ABSTRACT
In Western societies, popular and social scientific thinking about economic life is shaped by neo-classical assumptions, wherein exchange is presumed to take place among profit-maximizing, isolated individuals who have equal access to information. However, in recent years, a growing body of scholars and policy makers have embraced an alternative tradition, derived from the work of Max Weber and currently described through concepts such as social capital, ethnic economies, networks, embeddedness, solidarity, segmented labor markets and enclaves – to understand the significance of social collecties – such as ethnic or religious groups, families, neighborhood and genders – in determining economic outcomes (Cohen 1969; Light 1972; Portes and Bach 1985; Bourdieu 1986; Portes 1995a; Waldinger 1996; Light and Gold 2000).
