Luc Boltanski is Professor at L'cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He is the author of Distant Suffering: Morality, Media and Politics, Le Nouvel Esprit du Capitalisme, and (with Laurent Thvenot) Les conomies de la Grandeur. Laurent Thvenot is Professor at L'cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of L'action au pluriel: Sociologie des rgimes d'engagement, coauthor of Les conomies de la Grandeur, and coeditor of Les Objets dans L'Action, Cognition et Information en Socit, and (with Michle Lamont) Rethinking Comparative Cultural Sociology: Repertoires of Evaluation in France and the United States
Boltanski and Thevenot's On Justification is one of the most important contributions to the field of economic sociology in the past decade. It does not fit neatly into any of the major theoretical perspectives that currently dominate the field-institutionalism, organizational ecology, network analysis, rational choice, or transaction-cost economics. But precisely because it is so original, it has great potential to chart new territory and enliven debates. The book has already had an enormous impact in France, where it is one of the founding documents of the 'economics of conventions' school. It is sure to have a big impact in sociology in the United States and Britain too. I could list at least twenty major sociologists who have asked me when the book will be translated. -David Stark, Columbia University