"During recent years social scientists have come to reaffirm that understanding almost any facet of social life requires a simultaneous grasp of how economic institutions work and how they are influenced by culture. Sociology, and especially economic sociology, is well equipped to be of assistance in this endeavor. Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg bring together leading sociologists, economists, and political scientists in The Handbook of Economic Sociology, the first comprehensive view of this vital and growing field." "Here more than forty contributors examine the theoretical and empirical evolution of economic sociology; the social foundations of modern economic organizations; the interaction of economic factors with schools, the family, law, religion, work, and other institutions; and economic systems in historical, cross-cultural, and political perspectives. With the burgeoning of the field in the last decade, a definitive account is long overdue. Original and far-reaching, The Handbook of Economic Sociology provides a state-of-the-art overview that will appeal not only to sociologists and economists, but to all scholars who are interested in the impact of economics on the lives of people and nations."--BOOK JACKET.