Economic and sociological views of Industries, firms, and jobs: Sociological and economic approaches: Expanded edition

This chapter provides the traditional economic perspective. Economics is about rational behavior of individuals in the presence of scarcity. Economics is also concerned with the relations of exchange within markets. The greatest distinction between the sociological and economic viewpoints is that sociologists go beyond the individual as atomistic optimizer to focus on the structure of groups and positions within society. Sociologists have long been concerned with the study of social stratification, work, occupations, labor markets, and industries, all subjects involving "pecuniary" matters such as earnings, commodities, and economic exchange. In labor markets, competitive forces operate largely through the mobility of workers between jobs, firms, and industries. Sociologists also posit that discrimination has limited the options of those in the less desirable jobs. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of the features that an integration of sociological and economic views should contain.