Review by Choice Review
Fourcade (sociology, Univ. of California, Berkeley) has produced a remarkable book. On the surface, it is the comparative sociology of economics and the economics profession in the US, UK, and France. Fourcade explains how economics developed in these three countries. In doing so, she offers a very interesting analysis of the evolution of various schools of thought in each country. Here she is less concerned with the methodological and doctrinal disputes than with the way historical forces and institutions have shaped the course of economic thought. She explores idiosyncratic university structures, private funding, and government both as a shaper of education and a consumer of economic expertise. She is attentive to national differences in how governments and academia decide what constitutes expertise. She also discusses the role of the economist as a public figure. Her 52-page bibliography should be evidence enough of the remarkable effort that went into this book. Fourcade peppers her work with interviews with anonymous practitioners (identified only by their affiliation) from the three nations. With proper guidance, advanced undergraduates should be able to benefit from particular parts of this extraordinary book. However, libraries should stock this book even if no undergraduate ever set foot on the premises. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. Perelman California State University, Chico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
