Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sociology of economists'

Aux Etats-Unis, le nombre de think tanks, cabinets de conseil et autres centres d’expertise publique rattachés à des universités ou des fondations n’a cessé d’augmenter depuis les années 1970. A partir du cas des politiques de protection maladie, cette thèse montre le développement, à travers cette nébuleuse d’institutions, d’experts spécialisés dans un domaine d’action publique qui, sur plusieurs décennies, ont accumulé compétences, savoirs et influence et qui jouent un rôle clé dans l’élaboration des programmes et des instruments de réforme dans ce secteur. Associant une analyse microsociologique de ces acteurs et des interactions qu’ils nouent avec leur environnement à une réflexion macrosociologique sur leur position dans le système politique américain, nous montrons que s’est institué un espace de l’expertise en dehors de l’Etat, contrôlant la production et la diffusion des savoirs disponibles dans le processus d’élaboration des politiques. En contribuant à la compréhension des conditions de production des connaissances impliquées dans l’action publique, la prise en compte de cet espace de l’expertise, des forces qui le traversent, et de sa configuration, permet de comprendre l’évolution des programmes de réforme jusqu’à l’adoption de l’« Obamacare », très éloignée dans son contenu du projet historique d’assurance publique universelle des démocrates. Cette structuration d’une infrastructure d’expertise publique hors des frontières administratives – que nous qualifions de « para-administration » –, aide également à comprendre la capacité à agir de l’Etat fédéral en 2010 et l’adoption de l’Affordable Care Act. Cette thèse encourage ainsi une reconceptualisation de l’Etat américain intégrant des acteurs situés aux périphéries de l’appareil bureaucratique central. Elle montre enfin que l’extériorité par rapport à l’Etat ne rend pas les structures d’expertise plus indépendantes de la demande et des contraintes politiques exercées par les décideurs ou les institutions étatiques
The number of think tanks, policy institutes, and other centers of public expertise attached to universities or foundations in the United States has continuously grown since the 1970s. Focusing on the field of health insurance policy, this dissertation shows the development of an institutional web of experts specialized in a policy sector who, over the decades, accumulated competencies, knowledge, and influence that played a key role in the elaboration of programs and instruments of reform in this sector. By joining a micro-sociological analysis of these actors and their environment with a macro-sociological consideration of their position in the American political system, we show that an area of expertise has been established outside of the state, which nevertheless controls the production and diffusion of available knowledge used in the elaboration of policy. The examination of this expert space, its influence, and its configuration help us to understand the evolution of the reform programs that led to “Obamacare”, whose contents were ultimately very distant from the universal public insurance system long envisaged by Democrats. The rise of a public policy infrastructure outside of normal administrative parameters – what we term “para-administration” – also explains the federal government’s ability to act in 2010 and the adoption of the Affordable Care Act. This dissertation thus encourages a rethinking of the American state, which takes into account actors situated on the periphery of the bureaucratic system. It demonstrates that being outside the state does not guarantee that non-governmental expert structures can remain independent of the political constraints imposed by policymakers and state institutions

This dissertation uses mixed methods to examine the role of the coal industry in the reproduction of Central Appalachia as an internal periphery within the United States and the economic, ecological, and human inequalities this entails. It also analyzes the related political economy and power structure of coal in a national context. Particularly important for analysis of the region's underdevelopment are the class relations involved in unequal ecological exchange and the establishment of successive "modes of extraction." I employ a historical comparative analysis of Appalachia to evaluate Bunker's thesis that resource dependent peripheries often become locked into a "mode of extraction" (with aspects parallel to Marxist concepts of mode of production) triggering economic and ecological path dependencies leading to underdevelopment. This historical comparative analysis establishes the background for a closer examination of the political economy of the modern US coal industry. After sketching the changes in the structure of monopoly and competition in the coal industry I employ network analysis of the directorate interlocks of the top twenty coal firms in the US within the larger energy policy-planning network to examine their connections with key institutions of the policy formation network of think tanks and business groups. My findings show the importance of the capacities of fossil fuel fractions of the capitalist class in formulating energy policy around issues such as the 2009 climate legislation. As a contribution to the growing literature applying the concept of metabolism as link between contemporary and classical theory, I examine the conflict at Coal River Mountain from the vantage points of ecology, political economy, and human development in dialectical rotation. Utilizing Marx's method of successive abstractions, the mountain is presented as a nexus of metabolic rifts in the human relationship to the earth's natural systems and an impediment to genuine human development. Finally, I conclude with some implications of this analysis for building a critical environmental sociology of extractive economies. This dissertation includes previously published materials.
2016-09-29

The rationale for Washington's enduring and often forbearing commitment to Israel has long been a puzzle. During the Cold War it was argued that Israel, a "bastion of democracy" amidst a world of semi-authoritarian and often pro-Soviet states, was a natural ally. But the Cold War is over, and the Arab world awash with oil, a resource that is always in short supply in the US. Yet the American commitment to Israel, a small state that is largely oil free, and of little tangible economic benefit, remains. An alternative view is that the US commitment is underwritten by the Jewish lobby which exercises a disproportionate influence on American policy. Yet the Jews comprise little more than six million out of a total of nearly 300 million people. Even when combined with the influence of Protestant fundamentalists who for largely religious reasons, increasingly support Israel, it is still questionable whether interest group politics could determine American foreign policy to such an extent. Yet irrespective of transitions between Republican and Democratic presidents, bureaucratic support for Israel remains relatively constant indicating that support for Israel is not a product of partisan politics but a given firmly ingrained in the political agenda and discourse. This thesis examines some of the commonplace theories of explanation and finds them wanting. Instead it proposes to explain the American commitment to Israel in terms of a somewhat imprecise and yet still serviceable concept - that of political culture. For reasons that are elaborated in this thesis, the concept best solves the puzzle of an American commitment that is often costly in both economic and diplomatic terms. This thesis does not seek to argue that political culture is the sole explanatory factor in the development of US policy toward Israel, but that it has played a key role in serving to shape and define the American approach to foreign affairs, thus contributing to decisions and operations that cannot easily be explained solely in geopolitical, economic or military terms. It is argued that in perceiving their society to be a beacon of what they like to call 'freedom' and 'democracy', in a world in which these values are largely absent, Americans have been encouraged to believe that they share a political kinship with societies similarly imbued and that they have an obligation to assist where such values are under threat. It is this belief that sets Israel apart from other nations and forms the bedrock of the US-Israeli 'special relationship.' The relevance of the concept of political culture in accounting for US policy toward Israel is examined in a series of case studies. These focus on crisis decision-making during the presidencies of Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr., when domestic and organisational constraints were somewhat relaxed and decision-makers tended to act on pre-existing values and beliefs. In comparing and contrasting US decision-making both during and following the Cold War, the thesis attempts to provide an explanation for the relative continuity in US policy toward Israel in times of significant international and domestic change.

This thesis is a sociological history of the making of behavioural economics. Behavioural economics is a discipline in which economists draw on psychological knowledge and approaches to understand economic behaviour. The narrative begins with the lives and work of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in the newly established state of Israel. It then moves from the making of the so called Heuristics and Biases Programme in the 1970’s to the privately funded Behavioural Economics Program in the USA in the 1980’s. Using a blend of analysis of archival documents, published material, and interviews I seek to understand the formation of the discipline of behavioural economics by applying the notion of a psychology)of)error as an analytical tool. The small number of historians who have studied behavioural economics have all identified a concern with human error as a crucial element of its intellectual makeup. I take this observation further by arguing that both Kahneman and Tversky’s Heuristics and Biases Programme and behavioural economics are psychologies) of) error because the object to be explained in both fields was restricted to behavioural deviations from a normative core. In the case of Heuristics and Biases that normative core consisted of a blend of statistical and logical norms imported from traditional decision theory about what constituted rational decision making. In the case of behavioural economics the normative core was made up of assumptions about rational economic behaviour developed by neo-classical economists. Understanding behavioural economics as a psychology of error allows me to shed light on the complicated relationship between behavioural economics and neo-classical economics. Specifically it helps explain how behavioural economists sought to strike a careful balance between critiquing the descriptive claims of neo-classical economists and reinforcing their normative ambitions.

On tente de mettre en evidence les conditions de la genese et la structure d'un champ de production culturelle particulier a une forte dependance economique et politique. Pour cela sont successivement etudies les fondements sociaux de la forma espece definie de capital scolaire, l'espace des positions des economistes francais contemporains, la reproduction de le propres, et enfin la logique de leurs prises de position scientifiques et politiques. La premiere transformation a l'ori producteurs de discours economiques en france depuis une trentaine d'annees, etudiee dans une premiere partie, est le ch rapports de force symboliques entre champ economique et systeme educatif national, qui a renforce les contraintes econom l'ecole. Dans le champ des economistes, dont la dynamique structurale fait l'objet d'une deuxieme partie, cette evolutio par la marginalisation des positions dominees, et par un changement de l'"economie universitaire" au profit de l'economi orientee vers les etats-unis. En s'appuyant sur une enquete aupres des eleves de l'ensae, on montre ensuite que le syste des economistes a connu une transformation profonde. Le fondement de l'adhesion a l'economie "neo-classique" y reside da conformisme indissociablement scolaire et politique, qui se manifeste de maniere differenciee suivant les caracteristiqu les prises de position de politique economique des economistes francais contemporains ne peuvent etre comprises qu'en pa d'etat", produit officiel et "neutre" par rapport auquel ils doivent se situer. Dans le contexte d'une crise sociale qui du discours officiel, en novembre-decembre 1995, sont reapparus certains des principes qui structurent le champ, opposan attache a l'ordre social a un pole aspirant a sa transformation et d'autre part, des agents qui font de la "croissance" principal enjeu economique, a d'autres pour qui la "fin du travail" est a l'horizon des transformations economiques actu de la production la plus theorique etudie a partir d'un hommage a edmond malinvaud, qui se caracterise d'abord par une c formalisation mathematique, les economistes francais se differencient en premier lieu par la relation qu'ils entretienne americaine, et secondairement, par leur rapport aux statistiques et aux techniques econometriques
We have tried to determine the conditions for the genesis of a specific field of cultural production, and to bring its s light. Four problems are therefore successively studied : the social foundations of a new kind of cultural capital, the french economists, the reproduction of their dispositions and, finally, the logic of their scientific and political choi transformation underlying the success of economic discourse producers in france results from changing relations between and the national educational system, which strengthened the economic constraints upon school. In the field of economists has lead to the disqualification of dominated positions and has caused the university political economy to partially tur economics connected with the american field. Studying the ensae we show that the reproduction of the economists' disposi changed recently. The mechanisms of adhesion to neo-classical economics can be related to a certain type of educational "conformism" (which depends on the students' social characteristics). The positions of french contemporary economists in can be understood but in relation to what we call the "state discourse" (which claims neutrality as one of its main feat crisis where this discourse caused controversy (in november and december 1995), the structure of the field came to light between defenders and critics of social order, but also between different ethical visions of labour, production and grow theoretical production, where mathematical formalization frames scientific statements, french economists adopt different american domination and, secondarily, to statistics and econometric methods

O objecto central deste trabalho circunscreve-se ao equacionamento da emergência e consolidação da profissão de economista em Portugal. De modo mais preciso, pretende-se obter respostas para uma questão global: qual a dinâmica, a forma e o encadeamento temporal que caracterizam a construção social dos economistas? Desenvolveu-se uma análise alicerçada numa abordagem construtivista sobre o social. Abordagem que induz ao estudo das profissões como construídos socio-históricos. Por outro lado, perspectivamos a construção social da profissão de economista como resultante da conjugação de plurais processos sociais: a dinâmica económica do capitalismo; a expansão e diversificação das actividades estatais; a consolidação da ciência económica no campo científico; a constituição e sedimentação do ensino universitário da economia; a produção, circulação e apropriação dos conhecimentos económicos; a criação e divulgação do título e das definições da profissão; o trabalho social e político desenvolvido pelas instâncias de representação política dos economistas com o objectivo de conquistar privilégios materiais e simbólicos; a acção do Estado.

O objecto central deste trabalho circunscreve-se ao equacionamento da emergência e consolidação da profissão de economista em Portugal. De modo mais preciso, pretende-se obter respostas para uma questão global: qual a dinâmica, a forma e o encadeamento temporal que caracterizam a construção social dos economistas? Desenvolveu-se uma análise alicerçada numa abordagem construtivista sobre o social. Abordagem que induz ao estudo das profissões como construídos socio-históricos. Por outro lado, perspectivamos a construção social da profissão de economista como resultante da conjugação de plurais processos sociais: a dinâmica económica do capitalismo; a expansão e diversificação das actividades estatais; a consolidação da ciência económica no campo científico; a constituição e sedimentação do ensino universitário da economia; a produção, circulação e apropriação dos conhecimentos económicos; a criação e divulgação do título e das definições da profissão; o trabalho social e político desenvolvido pelas instâncias de representação política dos economistas com o objectivo de conquistar privilégios materiais e simbólicos; a acção do Estado.

Research into LETS has concentrated on the structural, economic and political dimensions of LETS involvement. In this context, LETS have often been portrayed as a solution to the problem of social exclusion. This thesis, however, suggests that involvement in LETS is more to do with communal sociability, and consequently has devoted attention to the ways in which community was created and maintained through LETS involvement. The thesis reports on a study of the communal activities of members from Kingsbridge and Yeovil LETS. The analyses are based on data derived from a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The fieldwork was conducted between 1995 and 1998. The data indicate that the active creation of community is part of an on-going process of social, cultural, economic and symbolic reproduction, which is characterized by perceived structural changes taking place in members' lives. These perceived changes, the creation of shared communal symbols and participation in a common symbolic discourse are important ways in which members reflexively construct the boundaries between themselves and non members.

We feel gratitude—a positive emotion upon receiving an undeserved benefit which is attributable to the givers’ benevolent intent (Watkins, 2007, 2014). Meanwhile, indebtedness symbolises an unpleasant mental state which is also triggered by benefit receipts (Greenberg, 1980). Theories and empirical evidence in the literature have highlighted how gratitude and indebtedness each relates to prosociality (or sanctioning), and importantly, how via different routes these two constructs will elicit cooperativeness. Nonetheless, there is still a gap in the literature on how gratitude and indebtedness will contribute to prosociality and sanctioning in economic exchanges (Leung, 2011). Thus via three economic games (i.e. Experiments 1 to 3, presented in Chapters 2 to 5) I endeavour to thoroughly examine how gratitude (and indebtedness) would relate to prosociality or sanctioning in a Behavioural Economics context. In so doing I intend to combine Psychometrics and Experimental Economics in the examination of the gratitude (and indebtedness)-prosociality association. Additionally, via meta-analysing (i.e. Chapter 2) over three decades of research on the gratitude-prosociality link I intend to offer i) a comprehensive quantitative synthesis of the findings and, ii) a systematic exploration of moderators, which are both absent in the literature. The present thesis also features a series of extensive follow-up analyses on an interesting economic observation from Experiment 1— i.e. the cheap-rider problem (Cornes & Sandler, 1984). While Experiment 2 entails a more focused scrutiny (via a one-shot game) over the occurrences and motives behind cheap-riding, Experiment 3 builds on that by testing how cheap-riding may be used to enforce normative fairness in an iterated exchange context. Results of the meta-analysis revealed a moderate positive link between gratitude and prosociality. The moderator analyses showed that this link is stronger when, a) state rather than trait gratitude was measured, b) direct instead of indirect or non-reciprocal outcomes was examined, and c) benefit-triggered instead of generalized gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009) was examined. Meanwhile, results of Experiment 1 built upon the above by showing how the gratitude-reciprocity link will be subject to helper intent attribution, and how the injunctive fairness norm (Elster, 2006) could influence this attribution and thereby shaped recipients’ feeling of gratitude (or indebtedness) throughout the episode, and ultimately his/her urge to directly reciprocate. Additionally, a noticeable degree of cheap-riding was observed when unfairly treated participants were granted an avenue to sanction their helpers. The data of Experiment 2 revealed a pattern of cheap-riding that corresponded not only to that of Experiment 1 but also to the reality. Crucially, the analyses of the motives behind repayment allowed the disentanglement of the psychology between that of the cheap-riders, cooperators, and free-riders. Lastly, analyses of Experiment 3 revealed three main findings. They included, a) people’s preference for an ‘optimal’ platform for cheap-riding to better serve its norm-enforcing function, although its actual efficacy in promoting mutual compliance to normative fairness is still questionable; b) how the Relative Rank Model of Gratitude (Wood, Brown, & Maltby, 2011) will supersede the injunctive fairness norm in guiding the recipients’ benefit appraisals, experienced gratitude, and eventual direct reciprocal acts toward the helpers; and c) how gratitude and indebtedness were both predictive of more trustworthiness and generosity in an iterated, variant of Trust Game.

Low-income, African female-headed households represent a large segment of households in South Africa. Despite this, little is known about how financial and non-financial resources are provided, controlled and used within these households. Less is known about how these dynamics shape intergenerational relationships and positions of power within female-headed households. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of these issues by examining how the household economies of fourteen low-income, African female-headed households in Khayelitsha operated on a day-to-day basis. It also sought to understand how two generations of household members experienced these practices. Through the collection and analysis of qualitative data, this thesis shows that the households were sites of support as household members relied on each other for various forms of support. However, many of the female household heads bore the greatest responsibility for the physical and financial maintenance of their households. Furthermore, the findings build upon existing understandings of low-income, multi-generational households as also being sites of negotiation and contestation. The unequal burden of care experienced by the older women and the patterns of support provided by other household members was often the outcome of intergenerational negotiation. The participants' experiences of these dynamics shed light on the shifting positions of power within their households. The older women struggled to maintain their authority and negotiate for financial and practical assistance from their younger household members. As a result, the provision of support and perceptions about their interpersonal relationships were framed by experiences of intergenerational conflict and feelings of ambivalence. The findings highlight experiences of multi-generational family life and inequality in a context where feelings of obligation, broader socio-economic conditions and the nature of state support may constrain how the participants were able to provide support and handle instances of intergenerational conflict.

In the Western Hemisphere global capitalism and regional trading blocks have become more pronounced with the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I examine the impacts of the neoliberal changes prior to and after the implementation of NAFTA in the community of Huatusco, Veracruz, Mexico. World-systems analysis is the theoretical outline. The global commodity chains approach is used to examine the coffee commodity system that links the United States and Mexico. This thesis includes qualitative and quantitative data that were developed from fieldwork research in Mexico and in the community. The qualitative data suggest that the impacts of neoliberaiism and NAFTA have been far reaching in Huatusco, Veracruz. The coffee commodity system has been particularly heavily impacted. These effects, in turn, have directly or indirectly affected the local population, which are illustrated with the quantitative data. During the neoliberal restructuring local citizens experienced problems in obtaining basic necessities such as food and clothing. Local perspectives regarding NAFTA are negative.

This is an historical survey of the economic role of Szechwan during Sung times (A.D. 960-1279). The tea and horse exchange was taken as a case to test the thesis that the economic policies implemented in Szechwan by the Sung government were a means to strengthen its defensive power. Although this is not an exploratory study on the role of the tea and horse exchange during Sung times, this study attempts to present its operation in a new and realistic perspective. Modern Western and Chinese scholars share the viewpoint that the expansion of the Sung to Szechwan was based upon an imperialistic motivation. The tea and horse exchange was a typical example of capitalizing upon the Szechwan resources and colonizing the minorities there. However, based on historical evidence, this study assumes that basically the Sung government wanted to maintain peace. Through the implementation of the tea and horse exchange, it was able to achieve a peaceful ethnic relationship in the southwest frontier. Some economic improvements were seen in the southwest minority areas after the exchange. Moreover, horses could be obtained, which were used, to a certain extent, to strengthen the Sung's military power although there were some problems. There are two major parts in this study. The first part attempts to present the general importance of Szechwan. It presents a prosperous picture of Szechwan on the eve of the establishment of the Sung dynasty. Due to the socio-economic heritage in Szechwan, special economic policies were implemented there by the Sung government in order to encourage further development, which could support its military. Some major policies are discussed in this part. In the second part, there is a study of the problem of the shortage of horses for military use, resulting in the implementation of the tea and horse exchange. The impact of the exchange on frontier relations and on Sung's military power and economic development as a whole are also discussed.

Food hubs, a new model of values-based agro-food enterprise, are promoted by their advocates as a means to simultaneously improve the livelihoods of small and mid-sized farmers, increase the social and environmental sustainability of the food system, and supply the ever increasing consumer demand for health, local food. Noting the contradictions embedded in the promise of simultaneously generating both social values and economic value, this study explores how goals of promoting positive social, economic, or environmental change are achieved and/or inhibited when implemented though marketbased activities. Through a series of three in-depth case studies of food hubs in the Southeastern United States, the three papers compiled in this dissertation investigate how food hubs work to realize abstract non-financial goals (e.g. ‘helping family farmers’, ‘promoting sustainable food systems’) through the mundane work of food aggregation and distribution. Particular attention is paid to the experiences of mid-sized farmers who participate in food hubs, and the historic, material, and subjective processes that influence the development of food hubs and their many stakeholders. Highlighting the tensions and negotiations inherent to the hybrid social-and-monetary work of food hubs, I assert the need for an analytical framework that can account for the more-than-financial dimensions of economic and ethical praxis. To that end, I draw on the theories of J.K. Gibson-Graham to suggest that food hubs are best understood as a form of post-capitalist enterprise situated within a community agro-food economy, wherein reciprocal and interdependent relationships are forged between new economic subjects through deliberate and ongoing negotiation of care via the process and outcomes of diverse economic activity.

This study examines the role of financial socialization in low-income Hispanic households in order to determine if there was evidence of the transmission of values about behaviors such a saving and searching for the cheapest price from parent to child. This aim was achieved by generating measures for time and goods socialization and by making the assumption that when a parent and child share analogous financial attitudes, this provides evidence for the presence of financial socialization. A failure to match indicates otherwise. The empirical results from multinomial logit and probit models provide several cases that present evidence for the presence of financial socialization. Numerous noteworthy relationships are investigated including the impact of marriage, income, and educational attainments on the probability of generating a like-minded child. Using survey data on 8th grade students and their parents, the findings of the logit and probit models illustrate the impact of financial socialization while concurrently emphasizing the repercussions when not utilized.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
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Nesta dissertação analisamos as estratégias políticas, econômicas e culturais que levaram a Rede Brasil Sul de Comunicações, a RBS, da família gaúcha Sirotsky, a conquistar a liderança entre as emissoras de televisão catarinense, entre 1979 e 1992. Como estratégia de implementação, a RBS se articulou politicamente com as elites dominantes de Santa Catarina e de Brasília para conquistar a concessão da TV Catarinense de Florianópolis. Em seguida, aliou-se aos representantes do empresariado local para a compra dos outros três canais de televisão no estado. Num segundo momento, na fase de consolidação do grupo de Santa Catarina, verificamos que as estratégias políticas tomaram a forma da atuação organizativa que a RBS empreendeu junto a sociedade catarinense: através de seminários e eventos ligados à mídia e aos anunciantes; através da atuação junto aos outros empresários de comunicação no sindicato e associação de classe; junto às elites políticas locais através de espaços abertos na programação, entre outros; e junto ao público, através de campanhas de solidariedades, eventos, programação e atuação filantrópica. As estratégias econômico-tecnológicas consistiram na implantação de um modelo de televisão regional baseado em uma rede própria de microondas acompanhada de um sistema de captação de anúncios publicitários, para serem veiculados nas quatro emissoras que geram programação e também publicidade local. Dentre as estratégias culturais, identificamos a prioridade à produção local (principalmente jornalística) como espaço de difusão de cultura regional, apoiada ao mesmo tempo na programação de maior qualidade e audiência do país, a da Rede Globo. A pesquisa foi feita através de entrevistas e levantamento documental e hemerográfico em arquivos e órgãos públicos, associações patronais de classe, e dentro da própria RBS.

Sociology
Ph.D.
This dissertation explores the ways in which housing markets based on mortgage-backed homeownership develop in an emerging economy. This is a case study of the institutions, actors, and financial practices at play. It contributes to the debates in the areas of the financialization of housing, the production of urban space, and economic globalization. I focus on developments in Peru from 1990-2014. During this period Peru’s national government implemented the country’s first major housing policy, which focused solely on the provision of homeownership and more specifically, making it easier for households to borrow money for the purchase of a new home. Through these actions, the government laid the foundation for a housing market that would be based on access to credit. This was a fundamental shift in Peru. This dissertation examined these developments and asked a number of questions. How were homeownership and the production of mortgages supported through Peru’s national policy? How had global actors and institutions facilitated homeownership and its financing? And lastly, were homeownership strategies being used as a tool for urban development? For this research, I applied an institutional approach to highlight the deliberate ways in which homeownership was supported in Peru. I focused on international, national, and local officials as well as developers and lenders who influenced the availability or scarcity of mortgage finance and the construction of new homes. I focused on the political and economic arrangements that transform the built environment into pieces that can be bought and sold. I collected data for this research from 1.) archival records and documents from Peruvian institutions and international financial institutions (IFIs) and 2.) interviews with representatives from these organizations, often identified in the records (n=36). Data from archival research and interviews were used to explore the interplay between interests, power, and ideas between national and international institutions. This allowed me to bring the temporal chain of events into focus and develop the causal connections between actions and support from IFIs. I also examined the extent to which the government’s agenda and priorities coincided and diverged from the priorities set forth by the IFIs. Findings illustrate a compelling story about an important aspect of modern day urbanization in a globalizing world where efforts are underway to expand transnational networks of finance and investment. Homeownership is not a natural phenomenon as we may be led to believe; instead, it reflects interests aimed at expanding the financial sector, investment in the built environment and, ultimately, the global economy. Overall, by examining the institutional and spatial nexus buttressing homeownership in Peru, this study demonstrates how land and housing across the globe are being incorporated into a market system and subsequently, how these practices intensify the accumulation of capital in cities. In Chapter 3, I trace the institutionalization of homeownership in Peru and the key motivations behind such actions. Since the 1990’s, the government has introduced policies and programs that promote homeownership as the primary response to the country’s lack of affordable and adequate housing. Similar to the US, the government has taken a leading role in arranging the housing and finance sectors for the creation of a mortgage-based housing market. Peru’s homeownership policy has embraced many neoliberal principles and is aimed at the restructuring of the housing market. The national government created the conditions so that the private real estate market could be arranged for the extraction of value. The premise being that once ‘enabled’, the private sector could meet the housing needs of low-income and other vulnerable populations. The government’s general approach was to reduce market informality (i.e., through titling and registration) and build confidence among residents and the private sector in a seemingly predictable institution of ownership and housing finance (i.e. through financial incentives and public promotion). Findings show that efforts to integrate these markets resulted in housing assistance for the creditworthy and created the assumption that one needed a loan to live in a house. Housing became increasingly treated as a product to be bought and sold on the market instead of a social good. And homeownership as the lynchpin tying the housing and financial sectors together. Chapter 4 highlights the role of IFIs in developing homeownership in Peru. Findings show that the government worked closely with IFIs to set up a strong mortgage market that would support widespread homeownership and the development of a secondary mortgage market. The national government and IFIs shared varying levels of consensus around engaging the private sector in housing provision, financial sophistication and standardization in mortgage lending, and deepening the financial sector. The case of Peru is useful for understanding the role of the national government in developing institutionalized mechanisms for housing finance and how this role has been facilitated by IFIs. These findings serve as an empirical example of global capitalism at work. Chapter 5 demonstrates how mortgage-backed homeownership in Peru was also linked to place-making and urban development. Housing constructed and purchased with FMV subsidies was developed in urbanizing areas and concentrated in certain neighborhoods. This was not by accident and instead, the concentration of FMV properties throughout Peru revealed the speculative nature of such decision-making. Homeownership was part of a larger strategy to root investment in certain places and create more value within the built environment upon which loans could be made. Mortgage-backed homeownership requires certain amenities and structuring that create and protect the value of housing and the surrounding neighborhood. In this way, housing policies have the power to generate a particular type of urban development to segregate groups and to concentrate investment in certain places. Finally, it is important to recognize that these findings are not unique to Peru. Practices to support mortgage-backed homeownership are taking hold across the world and are being led by national and international actors. I refer to the spread of these practices as the globalization of homeownership. The concept captures the economic, political, and ideological aspects of mortgage-backed homeownership. First, this research revealed the spread of a homeownership ideology. Despite the recent housing crisis that led to financial repercussions across the world, policymakers in Peru continue to have faith in mortgage-backed homeownership. Findings demonstrate how norms and taken-for-granted beliefs surrounding debt-encumbered homeownership become are transferred and institutionalized. Second, efforts to support homeownership in Peru and many other emerging economies are not insular. Guidance and upfront financing to establish critical institutions to support homeownership, such as mortgage guarantees and entities developed to support the primary and secondary mortgage markets, have come from a network of transnational actors. These recommendations and projects are in line with other efforts to promote economic liberalization and open markets. Lastly, I refer to the spread of national governments devoting resources to expand access to housing finance as the globalization of homeownership. Homeownership has become an international practice to intensify land values, create a market system within housing, and promote economic globalization through mortgage-backed homeownership. As homes become regarded as commodities, actual homes, mortgages, and other practices and institutions associated with homeownership are becoming more similar across countries. The infrastructure surrounding homeownership in Nigeria, now resembles that of Peru. These practices impose market principles in the organization of housing sectors, bolster investor confidence, and promote the flow of capital in and out of housing markets. The globalization of homeownership will remain an important area of study because of the impact it has on international, national, and local economies and the stratification it imposes on households and places. Capital will flow to certain places and creditworthy households will benefit. These efforts are in line with other neoliberal reforms and reflect a reliance on the market to meet the needs of those able to participate. This is to suggest that access to mortgage credit will increasingly structure housing and spatial opportunities across the globe and likely lead to greater inequality.
Temple University--Theses

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia Política.
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O objetivo deste trabalho é fazer uma análise da utilização da sociologia como instrumento de exame dos fenômenos econômicos. A discussão sobre a regulação de mercado perpassa não somente questões práticas, mas também teóricas. Ao longo dos últimos duzentos e cinqüenta anos, o ambiente econômico sofreu alterações na sua concepção oscilando entre a liberdade e a regulamentação estatal. Em todas as crises buscou-se rechaçar por completo os modelos econômicos vigentes e transferiu-se a responsabilidade "salvadora" para o outro lado do espectro. Entretanto, é difícil de imaginar que questões tão opostas como a liberdade e o controle sobre o mercado possam ser simultaneamente verdadeiras. A análise econômica clássica e neoclássica buscou afirmar a qualidade inerente dos mercados de alocar recursos com eficiência. Neste processo situou o ator econômico (homo economicus) como sendo o centro autônomo de decisões no sistema econômico. Como resposta às premissas neoclássicas, surge a sociologia econômica objetivando compreender o ator econômico e seu ambiente de atuação através de seus instrumentos metodológicos. Desta forma, a sociologia teve que lutar contra o homo economicus maximizador de lucro independente de seu meio que os neoclássicos defendiam. Ao inserir os atores econômicos em meios sociais, redefiniu-se a sua participação em razão das esferas sociais e institucionais que o cercam. A Nova Sociologia Econômica retoma e amplia esta discussão sobre a visão sociológica dos fenômenos econômicos e descobre nas redes e no ambiente político-jurídico relações importantíssimas que orientam e redefinem aspectos da vida econômica. A partir destes conceitos pode-se analisar a atividade econômica seja em seus sucessos ou nas suas anomalias. E é justamente sob uma das grandes anomalias em um sistema de mercado, o abuso de poder econômico contra a concorrência que estas teorias são analisadas. É através do Sistema Brasileiro de Defesa da Concorrência - mais especificamente o CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica) - que o Brasil observa e regula a ação empresarial no mercado. A opção de total liberdade ao atores do mercado foi e é proibida nas mais diferentes economias de mercado e no Brasil não é diferente. Consistentemente observam-se empresários ou grupos de empresários buscando aumentar seu poder de influência em seus setores de atuação e, com freqüência, estes atuam fora dos padrões de concorrência inclusive objetivando eliminá-la. Ao não focar a análise na eficiência e na maximização de ganhos, a sociologia econômica pôde concluir sobre a atividade empresarial concentradora de poder de uma maneira diferente, ou seja, relações de restrição às práticas do comércio são entendidas no sentido de aumentar suas chances de sobrevivência no mercado, portanto, não são meramente um comportamento fora dos padrões em um mercado voltado às eficiências produtivas, mas uma estratégia consistente e com resultados satisfatórios aos que nela adentram. Assim, a sociologia economia se mostra um excelente instrumento teórico para analisar aos fenômenos econômicos e ao observar os mercados como construções sociais conclui pela necessidade de regulação institucional deste para manter a liberdade de ação.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Anthropology and School of Education, 2006.
"Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 16, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-10, Section: A, page: 3877. Adviser: Thomas A. Schwandt.

Behavioural economics builds on psychology rather than on sociology, and on cognitive science rather than the science of culture. The same is true for new behavioural scholarship in the legal discipline, whether this is referred to as 'behavioural law and economics' or 'law and the behavioural sciences'. The result of a one-sided definition of a more realist research agenda in legal scholarship is an impoverished understanding of the 'social'. In Thaler and Sunstein's famous concept of nudging, social conformity appears as a property of the individual, which can be instrumentalized by social nudges. More generally, the cognitive strand of behavioural economics lends itself to strategies of regulatory 'debiasing', which suggests that it is possible to get down to pure preferences that are free from any distortions. While this approach neglects the endogeneity, or social contingency, of individual preferences, the social strand of behavioural economics is explicitly concerned with the dynamics of social interaction, or the effects of social interdependence. However, both strands of behavioural economics are still higher on methodological individualism, naturalism or positivism and lower on institutionalism, culturalism or constructivism than a genuinely sociological approach. More specifically, their understanding of the 'social' does not sufficiently account for the social embeddedness of both rational and irrational economic action. What is more, behavioural economics also lacks the means to reflect on the link between science and politics, which includes the question of why different models of economic man are attractive at different points in time. The conceptual move from rational to behavioural economic man bears distinctive policy implications, which are in line with the transformation of welfare capitalism towards 'less state' and 'more market'. While the overall direction of this project gets blurred in Thaler and Sunstein's branding of 'libertarian paternalism', it is evident in the adaptation of consumer policies, which proceeds under the imperative of market-conformity. Accordingly, a strategy of nudging does not put into question the wider institutional context but offers a technical solution to what is defined as a problem of individual behavioural rigidities and cognitive biases in the market environment.

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The solidarity economy is generating realities of topics and discussions that guide projects and actions implemented in the Brazilian context. There are different definitions and meanings that characterize these new means of generating employment and income, commonly called"solidarity economy". This study aims to raise academic studies and the realities cooperatives, as are constructed meanings and values for the term"solidarity economy". We mapped the main works of authors taken as a reference on the subject, analysis of some academic work in the area of Social Sciences who conducted case studies of cooperatives and an ethnographic study in two cooperatives with different bindings with the notion of"solidarity economy" . Thus, we sought an approach that allowed the questioning of this notion empirically in three levels of representation, which tells us about the different meanings and values assigned to the term"solidarity economy".
A economia solidária constitui realidades geradoras de temas e discussões que pautam diversos projetos e ações no contexto brasileiro. Existem diferentes definições e sentidos que caracterizam essas novas práticas de geração de trabalho e renda, comumente chamados de “economia solidária”. O presente estudo objetiva captar nos estudos acadêmicos, e nas realidades cooperativas, como são construídos os sentidos e valores para a noção “economia solidária”. Realizamos o mapeamento das principais obras de autores tidos como referência sobre o tema, a análise de alguns trabalhos acadêmicos na área das Ciências Sociais que realizaram estudos de caso em cooperativas e uma pesquisa etnográfica realizada em duas cooperativas com distintas vinculações com a noção “economia solidária”. Desta forma, buscamos uma abordagem que permitiu a problematização empírica desta noção em três níveis de representação, que nos informa sobre os diferentes sentidos e valores atribuídos à noção de “economia solidária”.

Orientador: Lea Maria Leme Strini Velho
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias
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Resumo: A proposta dessa dissertação vai ao encontro do reconhecimento recente por parte dos autores das mais diversas tendências de que os enfoques disciplinares para tratar a produção do conhecimento em ciência e tecnologia, em geral, e a mudança tecnológica, em particular, são insuficientes. Como resposta a esse problema, propõe a multidisciplinaridade (ou interatividade) como forma de análise para esse fenômeno. Particularmente parece existir dificuldade de diálogo entre aqueles que estudam a produção do conhecimento científico e tecnológico com abordagens sociológicas e aqueles que o fazem a partir de enfoques econômicos. Aproximar essas duas vertentes de análise, identificando suas diferenças e, principalmente, seus pontos convergentes é do que se trata essa dissertação. Enquanto a Economia tende a não incorporar elementos importantes para a compreensão desse processo, como os determinantes sociais deste tipo de produção - entre eles, os interesses dos atores envolvidos, as estruturas de poder e a influência dos aspectos políticos -, a Sociologia, em contrapartida, desconsidera muitas das características fundamentais para a estrutura econômica de produção tecnológica, como agências, instituições e sistemas econômicos. Esses diferentes aspectos enfocados por cada uma dessas linhas de pensamento permitem que surjam, em muitos momentos, espaços ociosos de análise que poderiam ser mais bem explorados caso houvesse um esforço de complementaridade entre eles. Muito embora ainda haja certa resistência na integração disciplinar, este trabalho explora as possibilidades de entrecruzamentos das linhas de pensamento econômica, representada pela Economia Evolucionista (EE), e social, representada por dois ramos da Sociologia do Conhecimento Científico: a Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) e a Actor Network Theory (ANT), partindo-se da perspectiva de que alguns de seus elementos de análise se complementam de forma a garantir uma caracterização mais consistente e ampla do objeto analisado. Para tanto, apresenta em seu primeiro capítulo uma contextualização sucinta de onde estão inseridas as três abordagens, quais são suas principais contribuições no que tange à produção tecnológica e algumas de suas principais categorias analíticas. Em seu segundo capítulo, propõe um exercício de complementaridade entre essas categorias analíticas, buscando ressaltar os pontos de interface e os pontos a partir dos quais uma suprimiria a carência analítica das outras. Em seu terceiro capítulo, ilustra, para cada uma das abordagens, um estudo de caso de desenvolvimento tecnológico, que são revisitados à luz das principais categorias de análise fornecidos por elas, para que assim possa-se identificar tanto a diferença no modo como cada um dos enfoques analisa os casos em questão quanto a possibilidade de complementaridade entre eles
Abstract: The proposal of this dissertation is based on the recent recognition by authors of the most diverse trends that disciplinary approach to study the production of knowledge in science and technology, in general, and the technological change, in particular, is insufficient. Based on this, it proposes the multidisciplinarity (or interactivity) as a form of analysis of this phenomenon. Particularly it seems to exist no dialogue between the ones who study the production of scientific and technological knowledge based on sociological approaches and those who study it based on economic tools. To integrate these two sources of analysis, identifying its differences and, mainly, its convergent points is the first aim of this dissertation. While Economics tends not to incorporate important elements for the understanding of these processes, such as the social determinants of this type of production ¿ among them, the interests of the involved actors, the emergence of power structures between them and the influence of the political aspects - , Sociology, on the other hand, disregards many of the basic economic aspects of technological production, such as economic agencies, institutions and systems. The different aspects focused by each discipline on technological production allow the appearance, in many moments, of vague spaces of analysis that could be better explored if a complementary effort existed between them. Even though there is still certain reluctance on disciplinary integration, this work explores the possibilities of dialogue between one approach of Economics thought, represented by the Evolutionary Economics (EE), and two approaches of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, represented by the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and the Actor Network Theory (ANT), considering that some of its analytical elements complement each other, guaranteeing a more consistent and ample characterization of the analyzed object. For in such a way, it presents on its first chapter an introduction of these three approaches, its main contributions related to the technological production and some of its major analytical categories. Its second chapter proposes an exercise of complementarity between these analytical categories, searching to stand out the interface points and the points from which one approach would suppress the analytical fragilities of the others. The third chapter presents a technological development case study for each one of the approaches, which are revisited based on the conciliation of the three categories of analysis, allowing the application of the possibility of complementarity between them
Mestrado
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

A broad-based franchise - that is, an inclusive policy for who elects leaders - is fundamental to the spirit of democracy in the twenty-first century. Yet the world's earliest democratic constitutions in Europe and the Americas either made no provision for women's participation, or explicitly prohibited it in their founding documents. Women were barred from the franchise even in those countries that went the furthest in guaranteeing men political equality, such as France and the United States. Things began to change in the 189os, when women around the world began to vote alongside men. What explains this sea-change in women's rights? Were women agents of their own political emancipation, or did politicians preemptively grant women voting rights in a bid for electoral success? Studying the political inclusion of women around the turn of the twentieth century, this dissertation argues that both electoral politics and the ordinary strategies of women's movements explain the extension of female suffrage.

The argument is simple. Politicians care about getting re-elected and so will only support reform if they think it serves that end. But even if politicians believe they can win the votes of the excluded group, they will not deviate from the status quo unless they anticipate losing future elections without female voters. Hence voting rights reform is more likely to occur in highly competitive political environments. In combining these insights, I construct an intuitive theory of the electoral conditions under which franchise extensions should be forthcoming, predicting that vulnerable political parties that foresee an electoral advantage will push for reform. Along with electoral vulnerability and the political preferences of the excluded group, organized political movements add a critical third dimension to this story. Political movements can intervene in the electoral arena, either by changing politician's beliefs about how the disfranchised will vote, or by changing the relative strength of competing political parties.

I substantiate this theory through a comparative historical study of women's suffrage reform in England, France and the United States. Drawing on multiple forms of evidence, including large-n statistical analyses, roll-call analysis, close reading of legislative debates, and primary research into the interactions between suffrage organizers and elected politicians, I show how male representatives were induced by party competition, preference convergence, and organized activism to restrict women's access to political decision-making or to grant women the right to vote.

Whereas most recent scholarship on franchise reform has avoided the subject of female voting rights, determining a priori that it is distinct from, and thus not comparable to, male enfranchisement, my research bridges this gap by highlighting the semi-democratic context in which most moments of voting rights reform have taken place. This re-formulation allows women to emerge as an interesting and relevant group for comparative analysis, and provides an analytical structure for future work to examine the enfranchisement of other groups in a semi-democratic context, including minority groups and segments of the non-ruling classes.

The world is increasingly moving toward a technology- and information-based economy. With this change, a growing occupational category involves working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). What is the political identification of STEM workers? Quantitative work has shown that professionals, in general, are moving toward the Democratic Party (see, e.g. Hout, Brooks, and Manza 1995); but a qualitative interview-based study suggested that STEM workers, specifically, may be more conservative than others (Zussman 1985). The primary purpose of this study is to bring quantitative analyses to bear on this question to determine if STEM workers, are, indeed, more conservative than others. A secondary purpose is to begin explaining why they are more conservative, if such a pattern is found. The primary research hypothesis follows Zussman (1985) and predicts that STEM workers are significantly more conservative than other workers; a secondary hypothesis is that this significant difference will remain even when controlling for key demographic variables. Regression analyses provide support for both hypotheses, which suggests that STEM workers are, indeed, more conservative than others—a pattern that may be rooted in the structure of their work, a la Kohn (1989).

Que signifie aimer une " série télé " aujourd'hui ? Ou, selon une formulation plus pragmatiste, que font faire les séries à leurs spectateurs ? Pour répondre à ces questions, cette thèse invite à se démarquer du paradigme de la réception - lequel fournit la majorité des études sur le sujet - et explorer les ressorts et contours de la pratique des séries. Il s'agit d'étudier les activités concrètes dans lesquelles s'engagent les amateurs, la façon dont se tissent leur attachement aux séries, les ingrédients de ce tissage, les appuis et prises matériels, techniques et relationnels de cet attachement. Ce travail montre que la pratique spectatorielle ne s'arrête pas au seul moment du visionnage, lorsque l'individu est devant son poste, mais s'étend à l'ensemble des activités, des temps et des espaces au cours desquels celui-ci entre en relation avec une série. À partir d'une quarantaine d'entretiens approfondis et de l'examen des principaux relais sociotechniques et médiatiques des séries, la thèse se propose de suivre les amateurs dans leurs pratiques quotidiennes, du visionnage et de la conservation des séries à leurs échanges conversationnels, en passant par les procédures d'information et de découverte, d'approvisionnement et de partage de contenus. Autant d'activités, non pas seulement " réceptives ", mais réflexives, corporées, instrumentées et collectives, qui permettent d'apprécier la diversité des formes d'attachement des " sériphiles " à ces objets singuliers.

Cette dissertation s'attache à l'étude des inégalités de salaire dans la société capitaliste contemporaine, phénomène qui conjugue des enjeux politiques conséquents avec une crispation des débats entre les différentes écoles de pensées. Il y est défendu la thèse selon laquelle les inégalités de salaire sont le résultat de règles socialement construites qui ne peuvent pas être exclusivement attribuées aux intérêts du capitalisme rationnel. La partie empirique se focalise sur les inégalités entre les catégories professionnelles et applique des méthodes économétriques à des microdonnées diachroniques d'Allemagne et de Belgique. Étonnement, trois études empiriques ne fournissent que peu d'éléments pour la validation des modèles conventionnels de la formation des salaires. Nous y montrons notamment que les règles salariales qui différencient les catégories professionnelles ne peuvent pas être expliquées d'après (i) leur correspondance avec les inégalités en termes de productivités marginales relatives, ou d'après (ii) l'impact asymétrique du changement technologique sur les professions. En revanche, la structure des rémunérations est significativement associées à la composition des différentes professions (taux de syndicalisation, ratio femmes/hommes ou niveau d'éducation) et aux variations dans la configuration nationale des institutions du marché du travail. Ainsi, cette étude ne met pas seulement en évidence la faiblesse de l'assise empirique des théories conventionnelles du salaire, mais il fait également ressortir des concepts socio-économiques et des résultats empiriques qui pourrait aider au recalibrage de l'analyse institutionnelle des rémunérations
The dissertation examines pay inequalities in contemporary capitalist societies, a phenomena that combines clear policy relevance and entrenched controversies between different schools of thought. It defends the thesis that pay inequalities are the result of socially constructed rules that cannot be ascribed exclusively to capitalist-rational interests. The empirical part of the dissertation focuses on inequalities between occupations and applies econometric methods to representative panel data from Germany and Belgium. Three empirical studies provide surprisingly thin evidence for conventional models of the determination of earnings. We notably show that the pay rules that differentiate occupational categories cannot be explained with (i) corresponding inequalities in relative marginal productivities or (ii) the asymmetric impact of technological change on different occupations. By contrast, the structure of occupational pay is significantly associated with the composition of occupations (e.g.\ changes in unionisation, gender ratios, or educational mix) and cross-country variations in the institutional configuration of labour markets. The dissertation therefore not only highlights the weak empirical footing of conventional wage theories but also socio-economic concepts and factual evidence that help to recalibrate the institutional analysis of earnings

In diesem Sammelband geht es um ein Potpourri kulturwissenschaftlicher, oder im traditionellen Sprachgebrauch: volkskundlicher Aufsätze, die sich mit dem Thema Reisen beschäftigen. Auf den ersten Blick ohne einen konsistenten Zusammenhang oder eine strukturgebende Klammer, ergibt sich im zweiten Blick ein Aufriss der Mühen der Kulturwissenschaft, mit dem Themenbereich Reisen - Tourismus - Reisewahrnehmungen umzugehen. Von hierher wirken einige Aufsätze amüsant, einige sind interessant, da sie kohärentere Einsichten bieten.

Orientador: Maria Conceição da Costa
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias
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Resumo: Durante as ultimas décadas, os diferentes enfoques na área dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência apontam uma nova identidade para esta área, e em conseqüência para a visão "epistemológicamente especial" da ciência. A imagem unidirecional, socialmente desinteressada que o "logicismo" e "hierarquicismo" deram á ciência, ofusca-se pela "imagem social da ciência". Aponta-se um diálogo entre ciência e sociedade sustentado pela idéia de que a ciência é um produto social contingente, formada por instrumentos culturais e caracterizada por uma constante reavaliação entre fatos e valores. Esta visão da construção socio-cultural do conhecimento científico está intimamente relacionada ao "que fazer" das ciência, ao complexo processo de socialização dos cientistas e aos elementos tempo-espaciais que servem de marco ao fato científico. A riqueza de aspectos culturais envolvidos no "ato de criação" da ciência estão implícitos na ação cotidiana dos cientistas e expressos de distintas formas de comunicação, entre os quais a publicação ganhou um amplo terreno. Esta pesquisa trata sobre o processo de construção sócio-cultural da sociologia como ciência na Venezuela. Reconstrói sua história a fim de conhecer sua trajetória e observar como os âmbitos da vida econômica, política e sócio-cultural venezuelana a influeciam. Busca-se estabelecer vínculos entre estes determinantes sócio-culturais e interesses temáticos científicos, através da análise da sua produção científica numa revista local: a "Revista Venezolana de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales ". O estudo dos interesses demonstrados pelos cientistas nos artigos da revista constituem o exemplo mais tangível da evoluçaõ da sociologia venezuelana. No decorrer do período estudado (1958-2000), os sociólogos têm se interessado pelos temas relativos à Economia e Política, mas também pela Teoria Social, Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia e Metodologia. Estes resultados evidenciam que a sociologia venezuelana está preocupada com as mudanças sociais, mas também com o próprio crescimento enquanto ciência. Finalmente se constata a idéia de que a ciência reflete em distintas proporções não somente uma parte da cultura mas também um todo social. Este trabalho tenta mostrar que a sociologia venezuelana está impregnada de elementos socio-culturais, o que a converte em um espaço do fazer social, que se evidencia no seu corpo de conhecimento e no produto de suas pesquisas
Abstract: During the last three decades, the different approaches in social studies of science pointed to a new identity in this field, particularly, to the conception "epistemologically special" of science. The unidirectional and socially detached image, given by the "logicism" and the "hierarchism" to science, is veiled by the "social image of the science". There is a dialogue between science and society based on the idea that science is a contingent social product, built by cultural instruments and characterised by a constant evaluation between facts and values. The perception of the social and cultural construction of the scientific knowledge in science is related immediately to "what to do", it is linked to the complex process of socialisation of the scientists and to the time-spatial elements that define the scientific fact. The cultural diversity of aspects involved in the "act of creation" of the science are implicit in the daily action of the scientists and expressed through distinct forms of communication, among them the scientific publications which have been conquering a broad recognition. The present research is about the social and cultural construction process of the sociology as science in Venezuela. The study tries to reconstructs its history in order to understand its trajectory and also observe which impact the Venezuelan economic, political, social, and cultural reality had on it. We tried to define links among the social and cultural deterrninants and the interests of the scientific themes, through the analysis of the scientific production in a local magazine: the "Revista Venezolana de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales". The study of the subjects approached by the scientists in the magazine artic1es is the most tangible example of the Venezuelan sociology development. On the course of the period studied (1958 to 2000), the sociologists demonstrated an interest regarding economy and politics subjects, but also by the social theory, social studies of science and technology and methodology. AlI this results demonstrated that the Venezuelan sociology is concerned about the social changes, but also with its own development as a science. Finally, we conc1ude that science reflects, in distinct proportions, not only one side of the culture, but also the whole society. The present work suggests that sociology in Venezuela is plenty of social and cultural elements, which transforms it in an appropriated field for changes, which can be found in the whole structure of the knowledge and in the results of its researches
Mestrado
Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

The Caribbean is a developing region of the world that has struggled to overcome corrupt governmental programs and agencies. Poverty and crime are commonplace, and a strong distrust of government is often present. With that said, this research undertook a comparative case study of twenty fishers and twenty farmers in a unique Jamaican costal community. Extensive qualitative and quantitative research analyzed the role of bridging and linking social capital in contributing to household wealth variations.

Contextual nuances revealed that the use of social capital varies by occupation. Key findings include positive relationships between formal group membership and group diversity and wealth creation for fishers and a negative relationship for farmers. Research found that bonding capital's informal networks play an important role in both occupations. Roles include reduced vulnerability (caused by environmental and economic shocks) of poorer fishers and farmers as well as providing access to technological information, financial capital, and technology, which facilitates household wealth creation. Consequently, developers and policymakers need to utilize this distinction of network preferences in order to more effectively address widespread poverty in Jamaica and throughout the region.

Objective: The focus of this study is a broad examination of household energy consumption for appliance use, space heating, space cooling, and water heating in United States over the period 2001-2009 using Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) from the years 2001 and 2009. Methods: Linear Regression Analysis is used to identfy determinants of household energy consumption for each of the end uses. Regression based decomposition analysis is used to identify trends in residential energy consumption for each of the end uses. Results: The study identified current determinants of household energy consumption for each of the end uses. These determinants are employed in the study to predict trends in household energy consumption for each of the end uses. Based on the results policy interventions at local and federal level for energy conservation are suggested.

This dissertation explores the role of the concept of flourishing as it moves toward sustainability by examining a theoretical case study of the Aeolian Islands, and in particular, the island of Lipari. Lipari is challenged by four core problems: lack of potable water, lack of collaboration on policymaking, lack of a shared vision, and lack of a sustainable economy. Each core problem is evaluated as a set of complex and interrelated systems. Through this analysis, the leading qualities associated with a flourishing society are explored to determine the potential levers that would be most effective in shifting the islands from unsustainable to sustainably flourishing. Using the framework of complexity, this paper integrates a variety of fields such as ecology, economics, public policy, and sociology in developing a more comprehensive definition of the concept of sustainable flourishing.

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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
A principal proposta deste estudo é apontar alguns produtos da .escola uspiana de sociologia. durante a década de 1960. Neste estudo buscaremos pesquisar a incursão do intelectual no tecido social e a aplicação da sociologia a partir da exposição das realizações de dois grupos de intelectuais alocados em instituições diferenciadas: o Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Sócio-Econômicos (DIEESE/1955), vinculado ao meio sindical, e o Centro de Sociologia Industrial e do Trabalho (CESIT/1962), ligado à Cadeira de Sociologia I da Universidade de São Paulo (USP).
The main propositions of this dissertation.s sharpen studies from .school of paulista sociology. in the course of 1960.s decade. In this study we.ll research about the intellectual incursion on society and the application of sociology from two kinds of intellectuals groups. The first one it.s Departament of Statiscs e Social-Economics Studies (Departamento de Estatística e Estudos Sócio-Econômicos - DIEESE/1955), linked to syndicate enviroment. The second one it.s Center of Industrial and Labour Sociology (Centro de Sociologia Industrial e do Trabalho-CESIT/1962), tied to Sociology I Cathedra of São Paulo.s University (USP).

There are conservative estimates that the amount of money laundered each year is anywhere between 2 and 5 percent of the annual gross domestic product of the world economy. That figure in dollars is between $800 billion and $2 trillion in U.S. dollars. Research has shown that the majority of money that is laundered across the globe either enters the United States or comes from the United States. It can be argued that the use of wire transfers is the preferred method used by criminals to move their funds. By using wire transfers it is more difficult for those tasked with prevention and investigation to track the money.

Wire transfers have become the preferred method for criminals to launder money. This is because they are fast, secure and very hard to trace. It is electronically sending cash to another individual or account. It is also easy to initiate a wire transfer. It can be done from a personal computer in a residence or from a public computer. It can be done through an established relationship with a financial institution or by using a wire transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram. It can be sent to another account or sent to an individual for immediate pick-up depending upon the type of service a person chooses to use.

This paper researches the argument that there is complicity within the wire transfer system that has supported this method for illegal activity and money laundering. The research argues that given the lack of effort by financial institutions and Federal regulations and enforcement efforts this activity will continue to increase. There have been successful efforts employed to reduce money laundering through wire transfers. These methods have not been embraced by the larger community of enforcement officials nor the Federal Government.

By using proven methods and analyzing trends and data within the wire transfer process an effective set of tools can be deployed by regulators, investigators and financial institutions to mitigate money laundering.

Pourquoi prend-on ou non des risques ? Pourquoi ne recycle-t-on pas davantage ? En situation d'incertitude, quels prix immobiliers peut-on anticiper ? Pour d'éventuelles explications et pronostics concernant ces questions, les principes d'économie comportementale peuvent être invoqués. L'économie comportementale (CE) est l'association de la psychologie et de l'économie ayant pour but de donner une explication aux comportements observés sur les marchés, comportements humains faisant preuve de rationalité limitée et de raisonnements complexes (Mullainathan et Thaler, 2000). L'étude de l'économie comportementale a inspiré un grand nombre de théories différentes et a été utilisée dans de nombreuses applications empiriques et cette thèse suit le même schéma en explorant différentes applications de l'économie comportementale. Cette thèse développe trois nouvelles extensions de l'économie comportementale aux champs du management, du choix en termes de politiques et en termes de décision d'investissement immobilier
Why do we take risks or we do not? Why do not we recycle more? Under uncertainty what do we expect will happen to our home prices? These and many other questions are asked on daily basis.For possible explanations and answers to these and similar questions principles of behavioural economics can be used. Behavioural economics (BE) is the combination of psychology and economics that investigates what happens in markets in which some of agents display human limitations and complications (Mullainathan and Thaler, 2000). Behavioural economics provides more realistic psychological foundations to increase explanatory and predictive power of economic theory. The study of behavioural economics has inspired a number of different theories and has been used in many applications, and this thesis follows the same path and investigates different applications of behavioural economics. This thesis explores three novel applications of behavioural economics to management, policy making and property investment decision making

This dissertation examines the impact of network effects in two settings--the computer software markets and self-employment decisions by individuals. Although there have been strong developments on the theory of network effects, relatively little empirical work has been done to examine their importance. The first part of this dissertation focuses on network effects in the market for computer software. It has been hypothesized that the presence of network effects in this market might often lead to lock-in of an inferior technology. An indirect test of this hypothesis is devised by taking advantage of a natural experiment afforded by the introduction of the programming language, Java. Java made it possible for programmers to write a single program that would run on any operating system. It therefore had the potential to eliminate the indirect network externalities in the operating systems market. Hedonic price regressions with fixed time and firm effects are estimated to test for the effect of Java on the extent of competition in the software market. Results using data compiled from magazine reviews of graphics applications programs indicate that Java was successful in creating more competition in the market for software applications. The second part of this dissertation examines whether social networks might explain the persistent racial gap in Self-Employment (SE) rates in the United States. Self-employment rates in the United States fell dramatically for most of the twentieth century before starting to increase in the 1970's. The racial gap in self-employment rates however, remained constant throughout this period. Many theories have been proposed in the literature but none of them successfully explains the persistence of the gap. A multinomial logit specification is used to model individual decisions to become self-employed. The average SE rate in the neighborhood is used as a measure of the network effect. Results indicate that social networks played an important role in promoting self-employment among blacks since 1950. Given the initial conditions of lower SE rates among blacks, the role of social networks in promoting SE might be able to explain the persistence of the racial gap in SE rates.

Renewable portfolio standards have been widely adopted by the many states due in large part to their broad political appeal. Of particular note is the significance that labor market impacts have played in the rhetoric for adopting renewable portfolio standards--they are commonly touted and perceived as net job creating policies. No robust analysis has yet been performed to assess the effectiveness of renewable portfolio standards in achieving this policy goal, however.

Through regression analysis that directly accounts for previously unconsidered selection biases, this work seeks to approach the question of labor market impacts and determine to what extent renewable portfolio standards have affected employment within the electricity industry as well as the broader economy at both the state and regional levels.

The presence of selection bias, identified via a Maddala Two-Stage Treatment Effects Model, was found to significantly impact coefficient estimates. Once these biases were econometrically factored out, RPS policies were found to be unambiguously effective at increasing the share of the electricity portfolio provided by renewable energy. The resultant expansion in renewable energy capacity was in turn found to have several statistically significant labor market impacts at both the state and regional levels.

At the state level, RPS policies are associated with ceteris paribus increases in employment in RE related fields (including installation and production), a decrease in employment in the broader electrical generation sector, and provided no statistically significant impact on overall employment within a state. At the regional level the benefits of RPS policies appear far greater. Under a regional specification an estimated ceteris paribus increase in employment in RE related fields, no statistically significant impact on overall employment in the electrical generation sector, and an increase in total region-wide employment was observed. Estimates of gains of approximately 2% in total regional employment are supported. The discrepancy between state and regional impacts was attributed to both labor and renewable energy capacity leakages across state borders, driven by economies of agglomeration; causing neighboring states to benefit from a local adoption of the RPS policy.

This dissertation explores on-the-job leisure choice in individual labor supply environments and in work teams. The individual static labor supply theory implies that income-compensated wage increases will increase hours of work--positive substitution effects on work hours. While positive substitution effects are the testable implication of the theory, numerous empirical studies estimate negative substitution effects and therefore question the empirically validity of that model. I present a framework for the individual labor supply decision that theoretically explains negative substitution effects as the result of substituting on- and off-the-job leisure. An experimental environment in which subjects perform a task for piece-rate wages provides the data to test this theory. When on- and off-the-job leisure are choice variables, the results show that average substitution effects on hours worked are positive (implying that the classical theory is robust with respect to the assumption of no on-the-job leisure) but that some individuals display negative substitution effects. This provides evidence consistent with the substitution of on- and off-the-job leisure. When only on-the-job leisure is a choice variable, the data support another theoretical extension which predicts positive substitution effects on work effort. The results have implications for employers who might try to induce more work effort (less on-the-job leisure) through income-compensated wage increases. Work team decisions are also examined in the context of the voluntary contributions mechanism for public goods provision. Expected utility theory predicts that free-riding will dominate more efficient social incentives, and that uncertainty with respect to the provision of the public good will cause even more free-riding. An experimental environment confirms the existence of free-riding in this "uncertainty" environment, but results are mixed as to whether the free-riding is worse than in situations without the uncertainty. When the probability of public goods provision increases in group contributions, higher marginal incentives promote higher contributions. These results have implications for work team managers. If uncertainty lowers contributions, compensation based on effort instead of outcomes may raise effort. However, since higher contribution levels raise marginal incentives, any way in which a team manager could raise effort would be beneficial since it would promote high future effort.

This dissertation examines the intergenerational effects of maternal early health, the intergenerational effects of maternal education and the distributional effects of school size.

Chapter 1 is an introduction that summarizes the contributions made in this dissertation. Chapter 2 examines a new question with important implications: Does a mother's early health affect her child's human capital development? My coauthor and I use two extremely different and established methodologies to identify variation in mothers' early health: variation in early life disease environment and variation in early life economic environment. We connect children to the environments experienced by their mothers using the state, month and year of maternal birth that appears on each child's birth record. To identify children's outcomes later in life, we connect their birth records to their 3^rd through 10^th grade school records using a high quality algorithm that relies on first and last names, exact dates of birth and social security numbers. We find that a one standard deviation improvement in maternal early health improves 10^th grade test performance in the following generation by .07 to .08 standard deviations.

Chapter 3 examines the intergenerational effects of maternal education. My coauthor and I use variation in compulsory schooling laws across states and over time to identify exogenous variation in maternal education; we estimate local average treatment effects using Two-Stage Least Squares instrumental variables estimations. We connect children to the environments experienced by their mothers using the state, month and year of maternal birth that appears on each child's birth record. To identify children's outcomes later in life, we connect their birth records to their 3^rd through 10 ^th grade school records using a high quality algorithm that relies on first and last names, exact dates of birth and social security numbers. We find an additional year of maternal education improves 3^rd grade test performance in the following generation by .31 standard deviations on average and that this relationship is driven by children born to white mothers.

Chapter 4 uses state-wide, student-level data from Illinois to examine the distributional effects of school size. I apply two established strategies to identify variation in school size; I use population-level panels of data to identify year-to-year changes in enrollment within schools and I exploit variation induced by school openings. I find smaller schools simultaneously improve average ACT achievement in 11^th grade and close achievement gaps between more and less advantaged students. Specifically, a 20 percent decrease in school size improves students' ACT performance by 1 percent on average and improves ACT performance by 1.5 percent on average for African American students that receive free or reduced price lunch.

The identification of factors contributing to the farmers' non-retention of subsidy dollars is key in identifying the impact of the subsidy within and across the sector. Relaxing the assumption of perfect competition, amongst input suppliers, allows for an analysis of two upstream of complementary goods. Because it is the case that the farmers are price takers for some inputs (seed) and may negotiate over the price of others (land), I assume the upstream input providers are more akin to Bertrand competition. General findings, from the theoretical and experimental results, indicate upstream market power as having a significant impact on the economic subsidy incidence; and the complementary between the famer's inputs is the main driving force of the results.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Economics and Social Science Consortium. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2008.
"A dissertation in economics and the social science consortium." Advisor: Mathew Forstater. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Feb. 6, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-193). Online version of the print edition.

For decades, economic theories have been mostly based on rational choices made by selfish individuals to maximize their utility, while sociology spent a lot of efforts describing the environment of individuals and explaining how this environment shapes theirs decisions. However, the last thirty years have seen many sociological concepts appear in the economic literature. For example, behavioral economics introduces things such as envy or altruism in economic theories. Other notions such as social capital, social norms, trust or community became more and more present in economic papers. The objective of this new strand of literature is to engage into sort of socioeconomic approach and to shed some light on interpersonal relationships. This thesis belongs to this socioeconomic approach, and tries to explore new aspects of various concepts. The two first papers are theoretical. In the first one, we explore the negative side of social capital, which has not been studied extensively, by investigating the effect of a norm on consumers when moving is costly. In the second one, we introduce a sociological concept, namely social identity, in a classic economic model in order to show how social interactions modifies its results, and hence, the importance of taking such interpersonal relationships into account. The third and final paper is an empirical case study of social capital in Belgium, an exercise that has not been done before, with the objective of comparing the level of social capital between the various regions of the country.

In the first paper, The Tyranny of Social Norms on Individual Behavior, we study the negative effect of the existence of a norm and moving cost inside a community. Because of deviation cost (such as social shame or peer pressure for example), consumers inside a given community may not reach their ideal consumption, that is the consumption they would have without social constraint. On the other hand, moving to another community may be too expensive (in terms of social assets needed to be part of the new community). Hence, agents may get stuck in their community, being forced to consume something they do not want to. One example of such behavior is the underinvestment in education in some neighborhood. We show that such equilibria are possible and that they may be socially suboptimal equilibria as well as Pareto inferior equilibria. We also show that state intervention can correct those “bad” equilibria by operating transfers between agents in order to lower the moving cost.

In the second paper, Social Identity, Advertising and Market Competition, we use a particular approach of a sociological concept, namely Social Identity, which focuses on the fact that people want to signal who they are to others. We assume that this is done by choosing a specific consumption (think of fashion market for example). We show that under this assumption, the classical result of Bertrand Price Competition does not hold anymore, and that prices and profits are positive, meaning that social identity creates market power for firms. Moreover, if the number of goods is limited, groups will be formed, and there will be multiple equilibria, each one corresponding to a particular partition of the consumers. We then add the possibility for firms to use advertising. This allows consumers to have a coordination tool, but increases also market powers for firms. We investigate the various equilibria that arise and their impact in term of welfare.

In the third paper, Social Capital in Belgium, we construct an index of social capital using the European Social Survey, and we show that this index can be decomposed in three aspects: Trust, Social Activities and Social Network. We then study whether there is a difference in social capital between Belgium’s regions or not. We show that indeed, such difference exists, even when controlling for socioeconomic variables. In a third part, we investigate whether the level of social capital is higher or lower in Belgium than in other European countries, and we analyze European regional differences in term of social capital.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

As famílias assentadas na Gleba Ribeirão Bonito, que vivem ao lado do Parque Estadual do Morro do Diabo, estão, ao contrário do que se poderia esperar, contribuindo, através de projetos articulados por uma rede de organizações, para a conservação dos recursos naturais desta Unidade de Conservação. A dissertação explora os fatores que têm condicionado tal realidade, fundamentando-se nas contribuições teóricas da economia das instituições e da sociologia ambiental. A conclusão é que está em processo de construção, na região do Pontal do Paranapanema, uma nova instituição que pode contribuir para a promoção de um modelo de desenvolvimento regional que inclua, ao mesmo tempo, o desenvolvimento social e econômico das famílias assentadas e a conservação da natureza.
The families seated in the Gleba Ribeirão Bonito, who live to the side of the Morro do Diabo State Park, are, in contrast of that we could wait, contributing, through designs articulated for a network of organizations, for the conservation of the natural features of this Unit of Conservation. The text explores the factors that condition such reality, basing itself on the theoretical contributions of the institutional economics and environmental sociology. The conclusion is that it is in construction process, in the region of the Pontal of the Paranapanema, a new institution that can contribute for the promotion of a model of regional development that includes, at the same time, the social and economic development of the seated families and the conservation of the nature.

The purpose of this study was to understand earned income tax credit (EITC) policy influences on the development of economic mobility for individuals receiving EITC. Policymakers have declared that improving the economic mobility of low-wage workers a major objective of the EITC. This study addressed identifying factors that contribute to economic mobility, and testing the punctuated equilibrium theory to determine whether exogenous forces influence EITC policymakers' decisions.

Utilizing the survey data of 2,252 EITC respondents from the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, California, the study found that saving, education, race, and being banked were factors contributing to economic mobility. Age was not a factor contributing to economic mobility. Results from testing the punctuated equilibrium theory indicated that at the .05 level there was not a significant association between exogenous forces and EITC policymaking decisions.

Long-term care is the greatest uninsured risk facing the American public today. The failure to plan for long-term care has had a serious, and often devastating, impact on families that are thrust into the role of caregiver to an elderly parent. The failure to plan for long-term care also has very serious consequences for society, which, through public programs such as Medicaid, pays for a huge and unsustainable portion of long-term care supports and services. The impact of the failure to plan for long-term care is becoming more devastating due to the confluence of several factors. People are living longer now than ever before thereby increasing the demand for long-term care services and supports, with the population of senior citizens expected to more than double in the near future. There are far fewer family caregivers available to provide care to elderly parents as a result of lower birth rates, later marriages, and the rapid increase of women participating in the workforce, reducing the available pool of family caregivers. Understanding the dynamics of long-term care planning, and the failure to plan for long-term care, is a necessary step in successfully addressing long-term care planning. Adult children of elderly parents rarely participate in their parents' future planning for long-term care. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study, was to explore how adult children's information deficiencies and risk aversion impact how they advise their parents on the purchase of long-term care insurance. The participants for the study were 12 adult children between the ages of 25 and 44, with incomes greater than $75,000 per year, with assets greater than $200,000. These participants were carefully selected from a commercially available demographic list from the New York-Long Island Metropolitan area, to be representative of adult children with similar demographics from other regions of the country. The research findings suggested that the information deficiencies of adult children of elderly parents is the greatest barrier to adult children's participation in the long-term care planning of their elderly parents. The findings indicate that adult children of elderly parents are unaware of the costs of long-term care, the chances of their parents needing long-term care, the burden of caregiving on themselves and their families, and how medical insurance and Medicare play virtually no role in a long-term care event. Other findings indicated that once these adult children were provided with credible updated information on the factors pertaining to long-term care their risk aversion toward such planning was replaced with the willingness to engage in long-term care planning with their parents. From a practical application standpoint, this study is important for adult children of elderly parents, the elderly parents, long-term care advocates, long-term care providers, legislators at all levels of government, and insurance companies in the business of long-term care insurance, as this study provides insights into the perceptions of long-term care by those most affected by the failure to plan for long-term care. Future research is required to expand on these findings by developing appropriate, credible, and understandable awareness campaigns regarding the nature of long-term care and its impact on families and society.

I examine the effect of poverty on violent crime in the United States during the years between 2000 and 2012. My analysis contributes to the literature by utilizing state-level poverty rates as the main variable of interest, and directly studying its effect on violent crime rates. I use panel data and a group (state) and time fixed effects estimation method in the study. The results confirm prior research that concludes that poverty does not have a significant effect on violent crime.