Organizations and Markets

Classical Liberal Sociology

26 July 2006 at 12:00 am Peter G. Klein Leave a comment

| Peter Klein |

At the risk of turning O&M into a sociology blog, let me call your attention to yet another item on the ideological leanings of sociologists. The Summer 2006 issue of The Independent Review, one of my favorite journals, is hot off the press, and it contains an essay by Daniel Klein and Charlotta Stern, “Sociology and Classical Liberalism.” Here is the abstract:

Sociology inspired by classical liberalism isn’t as far fetched as the profession’s current collectivist tilt might suggest. In addition to developing the social insights of Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner, and F. A. Hayek, a classical liberal sociology might take up such topics as the differences between cooperation and coercion; the interrelations between commerce and community; the role of privilege, prestige, status, and power in “rent seeking”; and the social mechanisms that foster and reinforce statism.

O&M readers may also enjoy, from the same issue, “Four Years After Enron: Assessing the Financial-Market Regulatory Cleanup” by Roy C. Smith and Ingo Walter and “Holding ‘Governance’ Accountable: Third-Party Government in a Limited State” (on government outsourcing) by Sheila Suess Kennedy.

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Classical Liberalism, Recommended Reading.