Volume 38, Issue 3

This article discusses the relation between social theory and economic sociology based on two theses. In the first part I argue that social change in capitalist societies has its starting point primarily in the dynamics of the economy. Consequently, the economic system predominates in explanations of societal development. At the same time the economic logic is confronted by political and social resistance that prevents social order from being subsumed by economic imperatives. I argue from a conflict-theoretical perspective that the actual organization of the capitalist economy can only be understood based on social and political conflicts over its institutional form. In the second part I discuss the consequences of this conceptualization of social dynamics for economic sociology. I argue that economic sociology is not limited to showing the social contextualization of economic action as such, but needs to demonstrate a systematic connection between the embeddedness of economic action and historical developments. The specific forms which embeddedness might take are explained on the basis of conflicts observed in the economic sphere.

Up to now General Sociological Theory has conceived of modern society as civil society. In view of the massive use of violence between states in the 20 th century it should be regarded as desirable to integrate war in a theory of modern society. This paper suggests, in terms of Herbert Spencer (his military and industrial type of society), distinguishing war society as a social type of its own. According to Spencer modern civil societies are primarily differentiated with autonomous self-controlled operation systems. Modern war societies are, like military organizations, hierarchically differentiated and centrally regulated. This paper analyzes the societal transformation of war in World War I using the categories of “mobilization” and “war societal dilemma” and interprets the Soviet Union and the Third Reich as phenomena of the modern war society. The article’s intention is to contribute to a theoretical understanding of war society in general, but especially in the period of the World Wars.

Since the early 1990s, Germany has implemented social and labor market policies directly or indirectly aimed at the expansion of the low-wage sector. Nevertheless, many studies about the working poor have not revealed a serious change in the material living conditions of the employed. This can be explained by the basic constitution of the German welfare state and labor market, which protect established employees from the effects of reforms, and consequently from a decline in their labor market position. However, this does not apply to persons who are not protected because of previous employment. Accordingly, empirical analyses on the basis of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) show that low-wage work and poverty have spread among entrants and re-entrants in the labor market. Thus, with regard to the overall development of the working poor rate, the risks of these groups have increased disproportionately.

This paper analyses the determinants of successful participation in the well known television game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”. Our sample consists of 660 contestants who participated in the German version of the show between 1999 and 2007. We are particularly interested in two hypotheses: First, according to human capital theory participants’ education should increase success and should lead to higher payoffs. Since contestants in the show can answer questions correctly only on the basis of knowledge and since other characteristics of the candidates are irrelevant, estimates of the human capital effect are not affected by other possible causes suggested by signaling theory. The second hypothesis refers to the assumed advantage of social capital. The contestants have the possibility to use a telephone joker which they select from their personal networks. Hence, the telephone joker should be especially helpful if he or she is selected from a large network of knowledgeable contacts. Thus, our study allows for an estimation of human and social capital effects.