Jens Beckert

Jens Beckert

Jens Beckert(born 21 July 1967, inFrankfurt am Main)is a Germansociologistwith a strong interest ineconomic sociology.The author of books on inherited wealth and the social foundations of economic efficiency and imagined futures in the economy,he focuses on the role of the economy in society – especially based on studies of markets – as well as organizational sociology, the sociology of inheritance, and sociological theory.He is director at theMax Planck Institute for the Study of Societies(MPIfG) inCologne,Germany, and a member of theBerlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Education and career

Beckert earned his MA in sociology at theNew School for Social ResearchinNew York Cityin 1991 and his MBA atFree University of Berlinin 1993.He earned his doctorate with a dissertation in the field of economic sociology in 1996 at Free University of Berlin and hishabilitationat the same university with a book on the sociology of inheritance in 2003.

An associate professorship in sociology atInternational University Bremen(2002–2003) and a professorship in sociology at theUniversity of Göttingen(2003–2005) preceded Beckert’s appointment at age 37 as director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG),which conducts basic research on the governance of modern societies.Beckert has had visiting fellowships atPrinceton University,Harvard University,theEuropean University InstituteinFlorence,theCenter for the Sociology of Organizations(CSO)inParis,and the Paris Institute for Advanced Study.He gave a Mario Einaudi Lecture at the Center for International Studies atCornell Universityin 2007.In 2019-20 he was Theodor Heuß Professor at theNew School for Social Researchin New York.

Current position and activities

He is director at theMax Planck Institute for the Study of Societies(MPIfG) inCologne.In addition, Beckert is a member of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at theUniversity of Cologne.He is a faculty member of the International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy, a doctoral program run jointly by the MPIfG and the Faculty of Management at the University of Cologne.Beckert is an editor of theEuropean Journal of Sociologyand a member of the editorial board ofSocio-Economic Review.He was council member of the Economic Sociology Section of theAmerican Sociological Association(ASA).

Research

Economies as social orders within societies

Jens Beckert’s current work at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies reflects a research program he has developed with his former codirectorWolfgang Streeckwhich “proposes to invest in atheory of social actionas the most promising approach to a deeper understanding and an improved theorization of the economy as a socially and politically constituted system of action.”

“Any economy is socially and politically constructed. The way it is socially embedded reflects both prevailing systems of meaning and the results of political ‘market struggles’ over social regulation. Investigating institutional regulation of the economy requires studying how economies are constituted as social orders within societies.”

Markets from a sociological perspective

In his research cluster on the “Sociology of Markets,” Beckert focuses on “markets as the core institution of capitalist economies,” seeking “to understand the functioning of markets from a distinctively sociological perspective.” Analyzing markets “from a Weberian viewpoint as arenas of social struggle in which actors confront each other under conditions of competition,” he explores the “social, cultural, and political underpinnings for the development of the order of markets.”

Embeddedness of economic action

“The problem of uncertainty market actors face when making decisions” is a key issue in Beckert’s research, which examines “the coordination problems market participants must cope with” – the problems of value, competition, and cooperation. “Uncertainty also provides a theoretical opening to explain the embeddedness of economic action.”

Awards and honours

• 2021: Appointed to theAcademia Europaea
• 2018: "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz "-Prizeof the German Research Foundation (DFG)

• 2010: Appointed to theBerlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• 2005: Best Law Book of the Year, by the German law journalNeue Juristische Wochenschrift,his bookUnverdientes Vermögen[Unearned Wealth]
• 2005: Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities donated by the Commerzbank Foundation.In its tribute, the Academy states that Jens Beckert is “one of the most original and productive sociologists of his generation, both nationally and internationally. He is considered a leading proponent of a new economic sociology [...].”

Selected publications

Books

• Uncertain Futures: Imaginaries, Narratives, and Calculation in the Economy.Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018 (ed. with Richard Bronk), ISBN 978-0-19-882080-2
• Imagined Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2016.
• Constructing Quality: The Classification of Goods in Markets.Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013 (ed. with Christine Musselin).
• The Worth of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in the Economy.New York: Oxford University Press 2011 (ed. with Patrick Aspers).
• Inherited Wealth.Princeton: Princeton University Press 2008. (German edition:Unverdientes Vermögen: Soziologie des Erbrechts.Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, 2004).
• Beyond the Market: The Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency.Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002. (German edition:Grenzen des Marktes.Frankfurt a.M.: Campus 1997).

Articles

• Beckert, Jens (2023). "Varieties of Wealth: Toward a Comparative Sociology of Wealth Inequality ".Socio-Economic Review.
• Beckert, Jens (2022). "Durable Wealth: Institutions, Mechanisms, and Practices of Wealth Perpetuation".Annual Review of Sociology,48: 233–255.
• Beckert, Jens (2021). "The Firm as an Engine of Imagination: Organizational Prospection and the Making of Economic Futures".Organization Theory,2 (2).
• Beckert, Jens (2020)."Markets from Meaning: Quality Uncertainty and the Intersubjective Construction of Value".Cambridge Journal of Economics,44 (2): 285–301.
• Beckert, Jens (2013). "Imagined futures: fictional expectations in the economy".Theory and Society.42(3): 219–240.doi:10.1007/s11186-013-9191-2.hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-000E-EF70-7.ISSN0304-2421.S2CID55657162.
• Beckert, Jens (2010). "Institutional Isomorphism Revisited: Convergence and Divergence in Institutional Change".Sociological Theory.28(2): 150–166.doi:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01369.x.hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0012-4219-5.ISSN0735-2751.S2CID32889286.
• Beckert, Jens (2010). "How Do Fields Change? The Interrelations of Institutions, Networks, and Cognition in the Dynamics of Markets".Organization Studies.31(5): 605–627.doi:10.1177/0170840610372184.hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0012-41FC-F.ISSN0170-8406.S2CID145148295.
• Beckert, Jens (2009)."The social order of markets".Theory and Society.38(3): 245–269.doi:10.1007/s11186-008-9082-0.ISSN0304-2421.
• Beckert, Jens (2016). "Agency, Entrepreneurs, and Institutional Change. The Role of Strategic Choice and Institutionalized Practices in Organizations".Organization Studies.20(5): 777–799.doi:10.1177/0170840699205004.ISSN0170-8406.S2CID145494629.
• Beckert, Jens (1996). "What is sociological about economic sociology? Uncertainty and the embeddedness of economic action".Theory and Society.25(6): 803–840.doi:10.1007/BF00159817.ISSN0304-2421.S2CID144369748.

External links

• Homepage Jens Beckert
• Personal Portrait – Jens BeckertIn: MaxPlanckResearch, 3/2006
• Publication list
• Jens Beckertin theWorldCat catalog(accessed viaKarlsruhe Virtual Catalog)
• Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies
• International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy