ABSTRACT

This book is a collection of critical engagements with Andrew Sayer, one of the foremost postdisciplinary thinkers of our times, with responses from Sayer himself.

Sayer’s ground-breaking contributions to the fields of geography, political economy and social theory have reshaped the terms of engagement with issues and debates running from the methodology of social science through to the environment, and industrial development to the ethical dimensions of everyday life. Transatlantic scholars across a wide range of fields explore his work across four main areas: critical realism; moral economy; political economy; and relations between social theory, normativity and class.

This is the first full-length critical assessment of Sayer’s work. It will be of interest to readers in sociology, economics, political economy, social and political philosophy, ethics, social policy, geography and urban studies, from upper-undergraduate levels upwards.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part I|62 pages

The Nature and Scope of Realism

chapter Chapter 1|9 pages

Why Andrew Sayer Matters

chapter Chapter 2|12 pages

Andrew Sayer

Human Nature and Social Critique

chapter Chapter 3|14 pages

Objectivity and Normativity

chapter Chapter 4|25 pages

Abstract and Concrete

Some (More) Groundwork

part II|46 pages

Dimensions of Moral Economy

chapter Chapter 5|11 pages

Critical Realism and Moral Economy

Sympathetic Reflections on Andrew Sayer's Work

chapter Chapter 6|11 pages

Why (Mundane) Things Matter

From Moral Economy to Foundational Economy

chapter Chapter 7|9 pages

Moral Economy

A Framework and a Manifesto

part III|64 pages

Applications in Political Economy

chapter Chapter 9|18 pages

Andrew Sayer on Inequality, Climate Emergency and Ecological Breakdown

Can We Afford the Rich?

chapter Chapter 10|14 pages

Hard Work

Restructuring, Realism and Regions

chapter Chapter 11|22 pages

Varieties of Unfreedom

chapter Chapter 12|8 pages

The Persistent Radicalism of Andrew Sayer

part IV|44 pages

Social Theory, Normativity and Class

chapter Chapter 13|11 pages

A Social Scientist for Our Times

Unravelling the Moral Morass of Class, Wealth, Profit and Oppression

chapter Chapter 14|10 pages

The Elephant in the Room

Sayer on Social Class

chapter Chapter 15|12 pages

From Dispositions to Interaction and Relations

chapter Chapter 16|9 pages

Ordinary Inequality

Sayer, Political Theory and the Human Good

part V|20 pages

Responses

chapter Chapter 17|18 pages

Responses to the Contributors