2011. Vol. 12. No. 4

One of the most substantial trends in recent social research of the economy is represented by a conceptual change: emphasis gradually shifts from «economic action», «practices» and «institutions» towards «economic knowledge». This does by no means entail that economic behavior should be purged away from social studies of economy, but rather calls for taking into account the close interrelation between knowledge and agency. The importance of the analysis of economic knowledge as a key to understanding both institutional dynamics and purposive action has been repeatedly stressed by two infl uential fi gures in the social studies of the economy — Karl Polanyi and Michel Foucault, but unfortunately disregarded by the majority of their successors. This papers aims at exploring theories of economic knowledge suggested by two great thinkers, but also at synthesizing some crucial theoretical insights attained in the heterogeneous yet consolidating fi eld of the studies of economic knowledge. The main challenge to be tackled is applying the theory of economic knowledge to explaining the shifting boundary of the economic.

The research perspective of «economy and society», renamed later into «old economic sociology», is associated with several icons of sociology, but fi rst and foremost, — with Talcott Parsons and Neil Smelser. In their book with the same title «Economy and Society» the authors made an attempt to analyze the nature of disciplinary boundaries between economics and sociology from the standpoint of system theory. They claimed economic theory to be a special case of general theory of social systems and reinterpreted main economic categories as categories of the social system. We offer you fi nal conclusions from this book.

The article is focused on the history of emergence and organization of academic markets of sociological profession in the late USSR. It starts with a description of niches occupied by the new professional specialization in soviet academic «ecologies» (Andrew Abbott) and confl icts inherent to this division of labor. Major subspecializations and characteristics of their representatives are analyzed. The role of political patronage imposed by the philosophy-and-party bosses is discussed. Finally, the mechanics of academic statuses and professional contracts distribution is laid out.

The paper offers an insight on a subject of contemporary consumption discourse — women’s glossy magazine. Discourse analysis of the Cosmopolitan’s articles reveals specifi c linguistic means and substantive patterns that serve to construct the collective lifestyle.

The article presents a review of literature in sociology of gambling. It focuses on the role played by the gambling in the lives of individuals and society. Classifi cation of motives and typologies of gamblers are summarized along with the social and cultural underpinnings of gambling development and diffusion in contemporary societies. Special attention is paid to the state regulation of gambling in different countries, which became a subject of special interest since the federal law that banned gambling business in Russia came into force in 2009.