The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader (Blackwell Readers in Geography) [Hardcover]

Ash Amin (Editor), Nigel J. Thrift (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 11, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0631234284 | ISBN-13: 978-0631234289 | Edition: 1

This Reader brings together the exciting and innovative work that has appeared in the last 10 years in the growing field of cultural economy.

• Brings together exciting and innovative work from the last ten years in the emerging field of cultural economy.
  
• Contains a substantial introduction by the editors on the main strands and history of the cultural economy approach.
  
• Shows how the pursuit of prosperity always involves multiple and hybrid orderings that cannot be reduced to either the terms culture or economy.
  
• Shows that thinking about cultural economy is both a substantive task and a valuable contribution to knowledge.
  
• Material is organised around different links in the value chain.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Even a good old Chicago School economist can find much in the book to widen her horizons. That ‘the economy’ is embedded in social relations and is linguistic and is ethical is obvious to any student of society. Yet Samuelsonian economics denies all this. The Reader should open eyes all round." Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago

"This is a terrific collection! Amin and Thrift have brought together a rich set of studies to make the case that in economic life, calculation is cultural. Across a wonderful range of settings – from financial exchanges to supermarkets – this lively volume is essential reading for anyone studying economic sociology." David Stark, University of Columbia

"Amin and Thrift's reader is an indispensable purchase for those who research and teach on the economy-culture problematic. Its 22 essays represent the wide diversity of viewpoints that have emerged this last decade or so - theoretically, topically and politically ... There really is something in here for everybody, and I think this book should be read by those wishing to know more about the culture-economy debate, as well as those familiar with its main contours ... I dare you not to buy it." Noel Castree, Cultural Geographies

Book Description

Bringing together the most exciting and innovative work of the last ten years in the emerging field of cultural economy, The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader shows how this hybrid area of study is now posing a significant challenge to notions of the economic and what counts as economic action. The pursuit of prosperity has always been a cultural performance. However, since the nineteenth century, with the rise of a separate profession of economics, such performance has either been neglected or actively denigrated. With the help of a substantial introduction from the editors, this Reader shows that the pursuit of prosperity is the pursuit of many goals at once - from meeting material needs and making profit to seeking symbolic satisfaction and fleeting pleasures. It goes beyond just adding "culture" to "economy." Organized around categories such as production, finance and money, economic regulation, commodity chains, consumption, and passions, this volume introduces developments at the cutting edge of a new and vibrant field.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (December 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631234284
• ISBN-13: 978-0631234289
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,797,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, December 8, 2011

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S. Crangle (Kansas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader (Blackwell Readers in Geography) (Paperback)

Got this to write my masters thesis. Easy to read, easy to cite and well written. Does a great job of offering examples and the like to explain just how culture and economy feed into one another.