This Reader brings together the exciting and innovative work that has appeared in the last 10 years in the growing field of cultural economy. * Brings together exciting and innovative work from the last ten years in the emerging field of cultural economy.

Acknowledgements. Introduction. . Part I: Production. 1. A Mixed Economy of Fashion Design (Angela McRobbie). 2. Net-Working for a Living: Irish Software Developers in the Global Workplace (Seán Ó’Riain). 3. Instrumentalizing the Truth of Practice (Katie Vann and Geoffrey C. Bowker). 4. The Economy of Qualities (Michel Callon, Cécile Méadel and Vololona Rabeharisoa). Part II: Finance and Money. 5. Inside the Economy of Appearances (Anna Tsing). 6. Physics and Finance: S-Terms and Modern Finance as a Topic for Science Studies (Donald MacKenzie). 7. Traders' Engagement with Markets: A Postsocial Relationship (Karin Knorr Cetina and Urs Bruegger). Part III: Regulation. 8. Varieties of Protectors (Frederico Varese). 9. The Agony of Mammon (Lewis H. Lapham). 10. Governing by Numbers: Why Calculative Practices Matter (Peter Miller). Part IV: Commodity Chains. 11. African/Asian/Uptown/Downtown (P. Stoller). 12. Retailers, Knowledges and Changing Commodity Networks: The Case of the Cut Flower Trade (A. Hughes). 13. Culinary Networks and Cultural Connections: A Conventions Perspective (Jonathan Murdoch and Mara Miele). Part V: Consumption. 14. Making Love in Supermarkets (Daniel Miller). 15. Window Shopping at Home: Classifieds, Catalogues and New Consumer Skills (Alison. J. Clarke). 16. What’s in a Price? An Ethnography of Tribal Art at Auction (Haidy Geismar). 17. It’s Showtime: On the Workplace Geographies of Display in a Restaurant in Southeast England (Philip Crang). Part VI: Economy of Passions. 18. Feeling Management: From Private to Commercial Uses (Arlie Hochschild). 19. Negotiating the Bar: Sex, Money and the Uneasy Politics of Third Space (Lisa Law). 20. A Joint’s a Joint (S. Denton and R. Morris). 21. Marking Time with Nike: The Illusion of the Durable (Celia Lury). Index.

Bringing together the most exciting and innovative work of the last ten years in the emerging field of cultural economy, The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader shows how this hybrid area of study is now posing a significant challenge to notions of the economic and what counts as economic action. The pursuit of prosperity has always been a cultural performance. However, since the nineteenth century, with the rise of a separate profession of economics, such performance has either been neglected or actively denigrated. With the help of a substantial introduction from the editors, this Reader shows that the pursuit of prosperity is the pursuit of many goals at once – from meeting material needs and making profit to seeking symbolic satisfaction and fleeting pleasures. It goes beyond just adding "culture" to "economy." Organized around categories such as production, finance and money, economic regulation, commodity chains, consumption, and passions, this volume introduces developments at the cutting edge of a new and vibrant field.

"Even a good old Chicago School economist can find much in the book to widen her horizons. That ‘the economy’ is embedded in social relations and is linguistic and is ethical is obvious to any student of society. Yet Samuelsonian economics denies all this. The Reader should open eyes all round." Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago "This is a terrific collection! Amin and Thrift have brought together a rich set of studies to make the case that in economic life, calculation is cultural. Across a wonderful range of settings – from financial exchanges to supermarkets – this lively volume is essential reading for anyone studying economic sociology." David Stark, University of Columbia "Amin and Thrift's reader is an indispensable purchase for those who research and teach on the economy-culture problematic. Its 22 essays represent the wide diversity of viewpoints that have emerged this last decade or so - theoretically, topically and politically ... There really is something in here for everybody, and I think this book should be read by those wishing to know more about the culture-economy debate, as well as those familiar with its main contours ... I dare you not to buy it." Noel Castree, Cultural Geographies