San Antonio College Library

"Before there was economics, there was political economy, an interdisciplinary adventure boldly and critically seeking to understand capitalism. Over time, the social sciences evolved into specific disciplines--economics, sociology, political science--that less often questioned capitalist perspectives and the state. This accessible and hopeful book is a call to everyone--citizen, student, public intellectual--to revive the critical edge and ask if...

Social Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice is about the creative ways in which social entrepreneurs solve pressing and insurmountable social problems. Theories of social change are presented to help demystify the "magic" of making an immense, yet durable and irreversible social impact. Utilizing case studies drawn from various fields and all over the world, the authors document how social entrepreneurs foster bottom-up change that empowers people...

+Mile Durkheim's work has traditionally been viewed as a part of sociology removed from economics. Rectifying this perception, Durkheim and the Birth of Economic Sociology is the first book to provide an in-depth look at the contributions made to economic sociology by Durkheim and his followers. Philippe Steiner demonstrates the relevance of economic factors to sociology and shows how the Durkheimians inform today's economic systems. Steiner argues...

This incisive and wide-ranging collection of essays on business, management, economics and society by America's foremost authority on management includes essays written between 1972 and 1980 and published in various magazines and journals. The essays reflect an international viewpoint and cover a variety of topics. But all are concerned with what Drucker calls "social ecology" and especially institutions -- governments, organized science, business...

This is an incisive book about what has gone wrong with the social fabric of American society. Jon Huer postulates two models of society: one that pursues profit and self-interest, and the other that cherishes community values. Huer holds that these two types of ethics cannot coexist in a truly just society. One prominent result of the current dominance of the profit-driven model of behavior is that American society increasingly substitutes reality...

Work is, and always will be, a central institution of society. What makes a capitalist society unique is that it treats the human capacity to engage in labor as a basic commodity. This can be a source of dynamism, as when innovative firms raise wages to attract the best and brightest. But it can also be a source of misery, as when one's skills are suddenly rendered obsolete by forces beyond one's control. Jeffrey J. Sallaz asks us to rethink our basic...

Focusing on the economic culture of colonial New England, Heavenly Merchandize views commerce through the eyes of four generations of Boston merchants, drawing upon their personal letters, diaries, business records, and sermon notes to reveal how merchants built a modern form of exchange out of profound transitions in the puritan understanding of discipline, providence, and the meaning of New England. --From publisher's description.

Researchers are finally cracking the code on artificial intelligence. It has the potential to usher in a new age of affluence and leisure-- but as Kaplan warns, the transition may be protracted and brutal unless we address the two great scourges of the modern developed world: volatile labor markets and income inequality. He proposes innovative, free-market adjustments to our economic system and social policies to avoid an extended period of social...

This book offers a powerful account of four young Mexican women coming of age in Denver, two of whom have legal documentation, two of whom who don't, and the challenges they face as they attempt to pursue the American dream. Here the author tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream. As...

"Susan Porter Benson takes readers into the budgets and the lives of working-class families in the United States between the two world wars. Focusing on families from regions across America and of differing races and ethnicities, she argues that working-class families of the time were not on the verge of entering the middle class and embracing mass culture. Rather, she contends that during the interwar period such families lived in a context of scarcity...