Week7--weekly reading blog--LI LINLIN

 (1) Outline:

This article introduces the concept of "economic sociology". Economic sociology is a subfield of sociology whose research subject is economic phenomenon, and it is a cross-discipline of economics and sociology. This article introduces and analyzes economic sociology from the historical background, economic system, industrial era, post-industrial era, classical economic sociology and economic sociology under the post-modern society.

For the definition of economic sociology, the early sociologists and economists did not have a clear definition until 1976, Smelser gave a clear definition: "Economic sociology is the use of the basic framework of sociology, variables and explanatory models, the study of the complex behavior related to the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of scarce goods and services."

The early founders of sociology had different thoughts to review and criticize economic sociology. Marx put forward the labor theory of value and the view of class production relations to criticize; Weber pointed out that rational interests cannot be considered alone, and social institutions and values other than economic institutions always interact with economic activities. In his book Monetary Philosophy, Simmel pointed out that the economic behavior of using money includes the change of subjective value and objective conditions of modern life. Durkheim's theory of social division of labor is basically criticizing the utilitarian theory of rational social contract.

Economic sociology pays special attention to examine the factors and influences of human interaction in economic activities from a social perspective, including class inequality, alienation of people's minds, unequal distribution of resources, and interaction of the meaning of economic behavior.

Economic sociology also emphasizes the sensitivity of economic institutions to historical changes, such as the differences between societies transitioning from traditional agriculture to industrial society, and explores the contents of the two for comparison.

In the words of the Wealth of Nations, the economic system is the degree of market manipulation by a "pair of visible hands", and it is also the meaning of the content of supply and demand theory. Most countries today do not fully interfere in the national economy, and they certainly do not fully let the market compete. Capitalism, socialism and communism, on the other hand, are different in their formulation and implementation of the economic system.

(2) New knowledge points: In this article, the post-industrial era section introduces knowledge economy, consulting economy and service economy respectively. From these three points, the economic sociology of the post-industrial era is briefly described. Knowledge is the highest priced commodity. All of the innovative knowledge, the inventions that drive the economy, comes from knowledge. It is also mentioned in the service economy that service experience and cultural experience are commodities without physical cost. This means that after entering the post-industrial era, the economy is more inclined to create intangible things. The change or direction of the economy is even greater.

Q: Do you think the current economic system of your country is in line with the current national conditions? Is it something that needs to change?