ABSTRACT

That James Coleman has made seminal contributions to such fields as the sociology of education, mathematical sociology and general sociology is well known. His work on economic topics is, however, less often mentioned, but well worthy of attention. In this chapter I shall outline Coleman's work in this latter area, discuss its high points and indicate the potential for future work along the lines suggested by Coleman. Foundations of Social Theory (1990) represents the key work in an undertaking of this sort. I will, however, not limit myself to a discussion of this work but also discuss Coleman's analyses of economic topics in his earlier work. In doing so, I will show how Coleman's sociology originates in the Columbia School of Sociology and that this type of sociology still informs his work very strongly. Indeed, the more general thesis of this article is that Coleman's rational choice sociology represents a creative and novel version of Columbia-style sociology, and that some critiques directed at Foundations as being too barren and non-sociological have failed to see the spirit that animates it. After having discussed the impact of Columbia-style sociology on Coleman when he was a graduate student in his 20s (Part 1) and how he later discovered rational choice (Part 2), I will present and comment upon what I see as some of Coleman's finest analyses of economic phenomena (Part 3). In the concluding remarks (Part 4), I will again stress that the key to Coleman's sociology is to be found in its creative mixture of Columbia-style sociology and rational choice.