THE ROLE OF SENSES AND SIGNS IN THE ECONOMY

Richard Swedberg

Journal of Cultural Economy, 2011, vol. 4, issue 4, 423-437

Abstract: Since some years back a number of scholars have argued that the analysis in social science, including the analysis of economic life, needs to take materiality into account. In this article, the author suggests that one way to do push the debate about materiality one step further would be to look at the role of the senses in mediating between outside materiality and the inside reality of the actor. Drawing on Georg Simmel's essay The Sociology of the Senses the author suggests how we may look at the senses from a sociological perspective; this article also discusses what an economic sociology of the senses might look like. In order to show the mechanism by which the senses operate when they mediate between outside materiality and inside reality, the author draws on the sign theory of philosopher Charles Peirce. The signs, and what they refer to, come together in the mind of the subject, Peirce argues. They also impact the subject, rather than the other way around.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2011.609703

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