Economic Lives is an outstanding collection by one of the most original thinkers in economic sociology. In addition to bringing together some of her most brilliant papers, Viviana Zelizer provides an integrative analysis of her work and how it relates to the thinking of others who want to understand the fundamental nature of the economy. I know of no one else who can so thoughtfully describe everything from the beginnings of the cultural turn in economic sociology to leading-edge interpretations of what is happening in capitalism today. No serious student of economic sociology will want to neglect this book. -- Rakesh Khurana, Harvard Business School Behind GNP statistics, stock market figures, and profit-loss statements lies a seething tapestry of human social relations. In this exciting collection of her writings on the sociology of economic life, Viviana Zelizer brings this tapestry to life and in focus, stressing the tense synergy of calculation and emotion and the tacit but ever-changing boundaries between market exchange and human intimacy. Zelizer records the psychodynamics of moving boundaries and mutual redefinitions between the worlds of impersonal exchange, money, and wealth on the one hand, and the private worlds of love, friendship, child rearing, and caring on the other. A must-read for anyone interested in the mutual constitution of objective and subjective realities in both history and contemporary life. -- Herbert Gintis, Santa Fe Institute and the Central European University No one else does what Viviana Zelizer does, or in the way she does it. With attractively rigorous scholarship, she reveals hidden meanings in things we otherwise take for granted. Spanning Zelizer's career to date, Economic Lives is welcome for bringing key contributions together in one volume. -- Ronald S. Burt, University of Chicago Booth School of Business This excellent, attractive, and very welcome collection contains some truly wonderful pieces. -- Richard Swedberg, Cornell University
Preface ix Introduction: The Lives behind Economic Lives 1 Part one: Valuation of Human Lives Introduction 13 Chapter 1: Human Values and the Market: The Case of Life Insurance and Death in Nineteenth-Century America 19 Chapter 2: The Price and Value of Children: The Case of Children's Insurance in the United States 40 Chapter 3: From Baby Farms to Baby M 61 Chapter 4: The Priceless Child Revisited 72 Part Two: The Social Meaning of Money Introduction 89 Chapter 5: The Social Meaning of Money: "Special Monies" 93 Chapter 6: Fine Tuning the Zelizer View 128 Chapter 7: Payments and Social Ties 136 Chapter 8: Money, Power, and Sex 150 Part Three: Intimate Economies Introduction 165 Chapter 9: Do Markets Poison Intimacy? 171 Chapter 10: The Purchase of Intimacy 181 Chapter 11: Kids and Commerce 213 Chapter 12: Intimacy in Economic Organizations 237 Part Four: The Economy of Care Introduction 269 Chapter 13: Caring Everywhere 275 Chapter 14: Risky Exchanges 288 Part Five: Circuits of Commerce Introduction 303 Chapter 15: Circuits within Capitalism 311 Chapter 16: Circuits in Economic Life 344 Part Six: Appraising Ec onomic Lives: Critiques and Syntheses Introduction 355 Chapter 17: Beyond the Polemics on the Market: Establishing a Theoretical and Empirical Agenda 363 Chapter 18: Pasts and Futures of Economic Sociology 383 Chapter 19: Culture and Consumption 398 Chapter 20: Ethics in the Economy 440 Published Works of Viviana A. Zelizer on Economic Sociology 459 Index 465
Viviana A. Zelizer is the Lloyd Cotsen '50 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. She is the author of The Purchase of Intimacy, The Social Meaning of Money, Pricing the Priceless Child (all Princeton), and Morals and Markets: The Development of Life Insurance in the United States.
"[T]his collection is an excellent introduction to, and summary of, [Zelizer's] impressive oeuvre, and makes a strong case for economists studying transactions within their cultural context."--Natalie Gold, Times Higher Education "As a compilation of three decades of Zelizer's contributions to economic sociology, the book will help economists and sociologists see how the discipline has evolved over the years. For other readers, the book is a fascinating introduction to the subject."--Karunesh Tuli, Foreword Reviews "Immensely interesting and thought-provoking--especially for academic collections and for fans of the Freakanomics series looking for meatier fare."--Library Journal "Economic Lives reveals ... Zelizer's brilliant craftsmanship in knitting together innovative narratives about the ceaseless interplay between money and social relations, means and meaning, objective and subjective, material and symbolic... [H]er work still reigns supreme in the description and analysis of the careful economic strategies individuals anxiously deploy to find meaning and a moral ground."--Marion Fourcade, Sociological Forum
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