Mark Granovetter

Joan Butler Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences; Professor of Sociology
A.B. Princeton University 1965 Modern European and American History
Ph.D. Harvard University 1970 Sociology
Mark Granovetter

Mark Granovetter's main interest is in the way people, social networks and social institutions interact and shape one another. He has written extensively on this subject, including his two most widely cited articles "The Strength of Weak Ties" (1973) and "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness" (1985). In recent years, his focus has been on the social foundations of the economy. His book, Society and Economy, is to be published by Harvard University Press in two volumes. The first volume is broadly theoretical, treating the role in the economy of social networks, norms, trust, power and institutions. Entitled Society and Economy: Framework and Principles, it appeared in early 2017.  The second volume, Society and Economy: Cases and Applications, will use this framework to illuminate the study of such important topics as the role of personal relations in the economy,  corruption, corporate governance, organizational form and the emergence of new industries such as the American electricity industry and the high-tech industry of Silicon Valley.  

Latest Publications

Books

Mark Granovetter. 2017. Society and Economy: Framework and Principles. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 

Mark Granovetter and Richard Swedberg  2011.  The Sociology of Economic Life, 3rd edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press

Granovetter, Mark. 1995. Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers. 2nd edition (orig 1974)

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

Ferrary, Michel and Mark Granovetter. 2009. "The Role of Venture Capital Firms in Silicon Valley's Complex Innovation Network". Economy and Society 18 (May): 326-359

Granovetter, Mark. 2007. "The Social Construction of Corruption". Pp. 152-172 in Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg, editors, On Capitalism, Stanford University Press

Granovetter, Mark. 2005. "Business Groups and Social Organization". Pp. 429-450 in Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg, editors, Handbook of Economic Sociology 2nd edition. Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press

Yakubovich, Valery, Mark Granovetter and Patrick McGuire. 2005. "Electric Charges: The Social Construction of Rate Systems". Theory and Society 34: 579-612.

Granovetter, Mark. 2005. "The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes". Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (Winter): 33-50

Granovetter, Mark. 2002. "A Theoretical Agenda for Economic Sociology". Pp. 35-59 in Mauro Guillen, Randall Collins, Paula England and Marshall Meyer, editors, The New Economic Sociology : Developments in an Emerging Field. Russell Sage Foundation. 

Granovetter Mark and Patrick McGuire. 1998. "The Making of an Industry:  Electricity in the United States". Pp. 147-173 in Michel Callon, editor, The Laws of the Markets. Blackwell.

Granovetter, Mark. 1995. "The Economic Sociology of Firms and Entrepreneurs". Pp. 128-165 in Alejandro Portes, editor, The Economic Sociology of Immigration: Essays in Networks, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship. Russell Sage Foundation. 

Granovetter Mark and Charles Tilly. 1988. "Inequality and Labor Processes". Pp. 175-221 in Neil Smelser, editor, Handbook of Sociology. Sage Publications

Granovetter, Mark and Roland Soong. 1988. "Threshold Models of Diversity: Chinese Restaurants, Residential Segregation and the Spiral of Silence". Sociological Methodology 18: 69-104. 

Granovetter, Mark and Roland Soong. 1986. "Threshold Models of Interpersonal Effects in Consumer Demand". Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 7: 83-99. 

Granovetter, Mark. 1985. "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness". American Journal of Sociology 91 (November): 481-510

Granovetter, Mark. 1984. "Small is Bountiful: Labor Markets and Establishment Size". American Sociological Review 49 (June): 323-334

Granovetter, Mark. 1979. "The Idea of 'Advancement' in Theories of Social Evolution and Development". American Journal of Sociology 85 (November): 489-515

Granovetter, Mark. 1978. "Threshold Models of Collective Behavior". American Journal of Sociology 83 (May): 489-515

Granovetter, Mark. 1976. "Network Sampling: Some First Steps". American Journal of Sociology  81 (May): 1287-1303

Granovetter, Mark. 1973. "The Strength of Weak Ties". American Journal of Sociology 78 (May): 1360-1380

Contact

Telephone
650-723-4664
Office
Bldg 120 (McClatchy Hall) Room 126

Office Hours

Office Hours

Fall, 2023  Wed 3:05-4:05 or email me to set up remote (Zoom) office hours.