Altruism, Gifts and Symbolic Exchange

Philippe Steiner is emeritus Professor of sociology at Sorbonne University. His work focuses on the history of social sciences and economic sociology. He haspreviously published Durkheim and the Birth of Economic Sociology (Princeton University Press, 2011) and Calculation and Morality, co-authored with Caroline Oudin-Bastide (OUP USA, 2019).

• List of Figure and TablesIntroduction1 Theoretical Critique of Political Economy1 Sociology and Political Economy2 Comte: “Reforming Political Economy”3 Theoretical Critique of Political Economy3.1 The Rejection of a False Science3.2 The Economic Fact Is Social Fact3.3 The Rational Economic Actor, a Monstrous Fiction3.4 History3.5 Politics4 Implications2 Comte and Altruism1 From the Critique of Political Economy to Altruism1.1 The Production of Morality1.2 Typology of Exchange1.3 Economics of Altruism2 Altruism and Economic Theory3 Altruism and Transfers of Resources3.1 Inheritance as a Political and Affective Principle of Exchange3.2 Inheritance, Economic Growth and Inequality3.3 Inheritances and Intra-Family Gifts: the Percolation of Wealth4 Familial Altruism and Market: a Shifting Boundary5 Conclusion3 Durkheim and Mauss: from Altruism to the Gift1 Altruism and Forms of Solidarity1.1 The Division of Labor in Society1.2 Socialism and Political Sociology1.3 Altruism at the Center of Empirical Research1.4 Nurturing Altruism and Egoism2 Exchange, Gifts, and Solidarity3 Mechanical and Organisational Gifts3.1 Which Actors for Which Transactions?4 Biomédecine and Organisational Gifts5 Selflessness, Markets and Contested Gifts6 Conclusion4 Bourdieu: from the Gift to the Exchange of Symbolic Goods1 Algeria, Peasants and Economic Activity2 From the Gift to the Denegation of the Economy2.1 From the Gift to the Logic of Honor2.2 From the Logic of Honor to “Interest in Disinterestedness”2.3 Symbolic Interest and Capital3 The Production of Symbolic Goods3.1 The Housing Market4 The Economy of Singularities and the Exchange of Symbolic Goods4.1 Singularities, Fans and Judgments5 Decommoditisation and Management of the Commercial Tie5.1 Singularities and Decommoditization5.2 Murakami and Parker6 Conclusion5 Exchange Mapping1 Exchange Mapping: from Comte to Polanyi2 A Map of Contemporary Exchange3 The Market as a Political Challenge6 Economic Knowledge1 From Theory to Knowledge1.1 Practical Representations1.2 Constructed Representations2 Economic Knowledge, Markets and Market Practices2.1 Polanyi and Political Economy2.2 Callon, and the Pragmatic Critique of Economics3 Teaching and Machines4 Conclusion7 The Great Performation1 Experimental Economics and Economic Engineering1.1 The Economic Theory of the Construction of Markets1.2 Performation Institutions2 The Performative Double Moment3 Economic Performation3.1 Financial Markets3.2 “Nudges” and the Economic Performation of Everyday Life4 Axiological Performation4.1 Organ Transplantation4.2 School5 ConclusionConclusionReferencesIndex