The company of strangers
Subtitle: a natural history of economic life
By: Paul Seabright.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9780691146461
Subjects: Social capital (Sociology); Economics -- Sociological aspects; Sociobiology; Strangers; Trust
Description: "The Company of Strangers shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives. This completely revised and updated edition includes a new chapter analyzing how the rise and fall of social trust explains the unsustainable boom in the global economy over the past decade and the financial crisis that succeeded it.""Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Paul Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, cities, and the banking system to provide the foundations of social trust that we need in our everyday lives. Even the simple acts of buying food and clothing depend on an astonishing web of interaction that spans the globe. How did humans develop the ability to trust total strangers with providing our most basic needs?"--back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Who's in charge?; title: Man and the risks of nature; title: Our violent past; title: How have we tamed our violent instincts?; title: How did the social emotions evolve?; title: Money and human relationships; title: Honor among thieves : hoarding and stealing; title: Honor among bankers? : what caused the financial crisis?; title: Professionalism and ful.lment in work and war; title: The city, from ancient Athens to modern Manhattan; title: Water : commodity or social institution?; title: Prices for everything?; title: Families and firms; title: Knowledge and symbolism; title: Exclusion : unemployment, poverty, and illness; title: States and empires; title: Globalization and political action; title: Conclusion : how fragile is the great experiment?.