The company of strangers : a natural history of economic life

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Title:

Author:

Seabright, Paul.

ISBN:

9780691118215

9780691124520

Personal Author:

Seabright, Paul.

Publication Information:

Princeton, N.J. ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, c2004.

Physical Description:

x, 304 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Contents:

Pt. I. Tunnel Vision -- Ch. 1. Who's In Charge? -- Pt. II. From Murderous Apes to Honorary Friends: How Is Human Cooperation Possible? -- Ch. 2. Man and the Risks of Nature -- Ch. 3. Murder, Reciprocity, and Trust -- Ch. 4. Money and Human Relationships -- Ch. 5. Honor among Thieves: Hoarding and Stealing -- Ch. 6. Professionalism and Fulfilment in Work and War -- Pt. III. Unintended Consequences: From Family Bands to Industrial Cities -- Ch. 7. The City, from Ancient Athens to Modern Manhattan -- Ch. 8. Water: Commodity or Social Institution? -- Ch. 9. Prices for Everything? -- Ch. 10. Families and Firms -- Ch. 11. Knowledge and Symbolism -- Ch. 12. Exclusion: Unemployment, Poverty, and Illness -- Pt. IV. Collective Action: From Belligerent States to a Marketplace of Nations -- Ch. 13. States and Empires -- Ch. 14. Globalization and Political Action -- Conclusion: How Fragile Is the Great Experiment?

Abstract:

"In The Company of Strangers, Paul Seabright provides an original evolutionary and sociological account of the emergence of those economic institutions that manage not only markets but also the world's myriad other affairs." "Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, and cities to provide the foundation of social trust. But how long can the networks of modern life survive when we are exposed as never before to risks originating in distant parts of the globe? This lively narrative shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Social capital (Sociology)

Economics -- Sociological aspects.

Sociobiology.

Strangers.

Trust.

Electronic Access:

Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/prin051/2003055550.html
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/prin051/2003055550.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025408168	306.3 S438C 2004	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Human beings are the only species in nature to have developed an elaborate division of labor between strangers. Even something as simple as buying a shirt depends on an astonishing web of interaction and organization that spans the world. But unlike that other uniquely human attribute, language, our ability to cooperate with strangers did not evolve gradually through our prehistory. Only 10,000 years ago--a blink of an eye in evolutionary time--humans hunted in bands, were intensely suspicious of strangers, and fought those whom they could not flee. Yet since the dawn of agriculture we have refined the division of labor to the point where, today, we live and work amid strangers and depend upon millions more. Every time we travel by rail or air we entrust our lives to individuals we do not know. What institutions have made this possible?

In The Company of Strangers , Paul Seabright provides an original evolutionary and sociological account of the emergence of those economic institutions that manage not only markets but also the world's myriad other affairs.

Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, and cities to provide the foundation of social trust. But how long can the networks of modern life survive when we are exposed as never before to risks originating in distant parts of the globe? This lively narrative shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives.