Institutional Economics and the Formation of Preferences: The Advent of Pop Music (New Horizons in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics series) - Hardcover

Dolfsma, Wilfred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843762331 ISBN 13: 9781843762331

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

The formation of preferences is an elusive subject that many social scientists, and especially economists, have tended to avoid. In this original new book, Wilfred Dolfsma combines institutional economics with insights from the other social sciences to analyze the way in which preferences are formed in a social context.

The author demonstrates how preferences for specific goods, and symbolic goods in particular, are mediated through the institutional settings that both individuals and groups find themselves in. He develops a Social Value Nexus, which indicates how institutions relate to the socio-cultural values of a society. He goes on to argue that tensions at the institutional or socio-cultural level will alter the institutional setting and therefore affect preferences. The sudden and radical change in consumption patterns for music in the late 1950s and early 1960s provides convincing evidence of the author’s claim. By focusing on an event with great societal significance and using unique empirical material, he skilfully elucidates the theoretical arguments made in the book.

This study offers both a novel explanation of the formation of preferences and a significant elaboration of the economic theory of institutional change. It will engage and enlighten scholars and students of the social sciences, especially those with an interest in consumption, institutional economics, cultural studies and sociology.

About this title

About the Author

Wilfred Dolfsma, Economist and Philosopher, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Review

"'Wilfred Dolfsma has provided us with an important and pioneering investigation of the social construction of pop music as a symbolic good, drawing on institutional and social economic thinking regarding how socio-cultural values underlie the value/price system for music goods. A necessary resource for all those seeking to understand symbolic goods and the identities they help create.' - John B. Davis, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Marquette University, US" --John B. Davis, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Marquette University, US"

Edition details

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1843762331
• ISBN 13: 9781843762331
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176