Daniel Little — Social embeddedness

The large distinction at issue here is the contrast between rational actor models of the social world, in which the actor makes choices within a thin set of context-independent decision rules, and social actor models, in which the actor is largely driven by a context-defined set of scripts as he/she makes choices. The contrast is sometimes illustrated by contrasting neoclassical economic models of the market with substantivist models along the lines of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, and it links to the debate in economic anthropology between formalists and substantivists.

Read it at Understanding Society
Social embeddedness
by Daniel Little | Chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Professor of Philosophy at UM-Dearborn, and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research and the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan

Daniel Little — Actor-centered sociology

Read it at Understanding Society
Actor-centered sociology
by Daniel Little

David Little summarizes his position on microfoundations of sociological theory. Must-read for those interested in sociology and sociology as it relates to economics. It's short and to the point, tying up a lot of what has appeared on Little's blog.