Jens Beckert

Beckert earned his MA in sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1991 and his MBA at Free University of Berlin in 1993.{{cite web|title=Prof. Dr. Jens Beckert, Researchers at the MPI for the Study of Societies |url=http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/wissdetails_en.asp?MitarbID=54 |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233031/http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/wissdetails_en.asp?MitarbID=54 |archive-date= 3 March 2016 }} He earned his doctorate with a dissertation in the field of economic sociology in 1996 at Free University of Berlin and his habilitation at the same university with a book on the sociology of inheritance in 2003.{{cite web|title=Personal Homepage Jens Beckert |url=http://www.mpifg.de/people/jb1/lebenslauf_en.asp |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808140146/http://www.mpifg.de/people/jb1/lebenslauf_en.asp |archive-date= 8 August 2014 }}

An associate professorship in sociology at International University Bremen (2002–2003) and a professorship in sociology at the University of Göttingen (2003–2005) preceded Beckert’s appointment at age 37 as director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG),{{cite web|title=Max Planck Society – CV Jens Beckert|url=http://www.mpg.de/369715/gesellschaftsforschung_wissM6|accessdate=24 June 2014}} which conducts basic research on the governance of modern societies.{{cite web|title=Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |url=http://www.mpifg.de/institut/institut_en.asp |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808083649/http://www.mpifg.de/institut/institut_en.asp |archive-date= 8 August 2014 }} Beckert has had visiting fellowships at Princeton University, Harvard University, the European University Institute in Florence,{{cite web|title=Max Planck Society – CV Jens Beckert|url=http://www.mpg.de/369715/gesellschaftsforschung_wissM6|accessdate=24 June 2014}} the Center for the Sociology of Organizations (CSO){{cite web|title=The CSO welcomes Jens Beckert|url=http://www.cso.edu/fiche_actu.asp?langue=en&actu_id=701|accessdate=24 June 2014|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803141732/http://www.cso.edu/fiche_actu.asp?langue=en&actu_id=701|url-status=dead}} in Paris, and the Paris Institute for Advanced Study.{{cite web|title=Fellows at Paris Institute for Advanced Study |url=http://paris-iea.fr/en/resident/jens-beckert |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808051422/http://paris-iea.fr/en/resident/jens-beckert |archive-date= 8 August 2014 }} He gave a Mario Einaudi Lecture at the Center for International Studies at Cornell University in 2007.{{cite web|title=Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University, p.23 |url=http://einaudi.cornell.edu/sites/dev.einaudi.cornell.edu/files/AR2006-2007web.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140615194518/http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/sites/dev.einaudi.cornell.edu/files/AR2006-2007web.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 June 2014 |accessdate=24 June 2014 }} In 2019-20 he was Theodor Heuß Professor at the New School for Social Research in New York.{{Cite web |title=Jens Beckert |url=https://www.mpifg.de/beckert_en |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=www.mpifg.de |language=en}}

He is director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne. In addition, Beckert is a member of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne.{{cite web|title=Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne|url=http://www.cgs.uni-koeln.de/faculty.html|accessdate=24 June 2014|archive-date=8 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808033844/http://www.cgs.uni-koeln.de/faculty.html|url-status=dead}} He is a faculty member of the International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy, a doctoral program run jointly by the MPIfG and the Faculty of Management at the University of Cologne.{{cite web|title=International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy (IMPRS-SPCE) |url=http://imprs.mpifg.de/imprs_faculty.asp |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706101423/http://imprs.mpifg.de/imprs_faculty.asp |archive-date= 6 July 2014 }}{{cite web|title=PhD Program at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |url=http://imprs.mpifg.de/downloads/2012-10-imprs-folder_w.pdf |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606185850/http://imprs.mpifg.de/downloads/2012-10-imprs-folder_w.pdf |archive-date= 6 June 2013 }} Beckert is an editor of the European Journal of Sociology{{cite web|title=European Journal of Sociology|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=EUR|accessdate=24 June 2014}} and a member of the editorial board of Socio-Economic Review.{{cite web|title=Socio-Economic Review|url=http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/soceco/editorial_board.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808051422/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/soceco/editorial_board.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 August 2014|accessdate=24 June 2014}} He was council member of the Economic Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA).{{cite web|title=Section on Economic Sociology. American Sociological Association |url=http://www.asanet.org/sections/economic.cfm |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629045424/http://asanet.org/sections/economic.cfm |archive-date=29 June 2014 }}

Jens Beckert’s current work at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies reflects a research program he has developed with his former codirector [http://www.mpg.de/404373/gesellschaftsforschung_wissM1 Wolfgang Streeck] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027183833/http://www.mpg.de/404373/gesellschaftsforschung_wissM1 |date=2015-10-27 }} which “proposes to invest in a theory of social action as the most promising approach to a deeper understanding and an improved theorization of the economy as a socially and politically constituted system of action.”{{cite web|title=Research Program of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |url=http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/forschprogramm_en.asp |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124002713/http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/forschprogramm_en.asp |archive-date=24 January 2015 }}

“Any economy is socially and politically constructed. The way it is socially embedded reflects both prevailing systems of meaning and the results of political ‘market struggles’ over social regulation. Investigating institutional regulation of the economy requires studying how economies are constituted as social orders within societies.”{{cite web|title=J. Beckert and W. Streeck: Economic Sociology and Political Economy: A Programmatic Perspective |url=http://www.mpifg.de/pu/workpap/wp08-4.pdf |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723125654/http://www.mpifg.de/pu/workpap/wp08-4.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2013 }}

In his research cluster on the “Sociology of Markets,” Beckert focuses on “markets as the core institution of capitalist economies,” seeking “to understand the functioning of markets from a distinctively sociological perspective.” Analyzing markets “from a Weberian viewpoint as arenas of social struggle in which actors confront each other under conditions of competition,” he explores the “social, cultural, and political underpinnings for the development of the order of markets.”{{cite web|title=Introduction to "Sociology of Markets." Research Projects at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |url=http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/projdetails_en.asp?ProjekteID=113 |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212141138/http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/projdetails_en.asp?ProjekteID=113 |archive-date=12 December 2007 }}

“The problem of uncertainty market actors face when making decisions” is a key issue in Beckert’s research, which examines “the coordination problems market participants must cope with” – the problems of value, competition, and cooperation. “Uncertainty also provides a theoretical opening to explain the embeddedness of economic action.”{{cite web|title=Introduction to "Sociology of Markets." Research Projects at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |url=http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/projdetails_en.asp?ProjekteID=113 |access-date=24 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212141138/http://www.mpifg.de/forschung/projdetails_en.asp?ProjekteID=113 |archive-date=12 December 2007 }}

• 2021: Appointed to the Academia Europaea{{Cite web |title=Jens Beckert |url=https://www.mpifg.de/beckert_en |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=www.mpifg.de |language=en}}
• 2018: "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz"-Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG){{Cite web |title=Leibniz Prize to Jens Beckert |url=https://www.mpifg.de/251458/2017-12-18-beckert-leibniz-preis |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=www.mpifg.de |language=en}}

• 2010: Appointed to the [https://www.bbaw.de/en/ Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities]{{cite web|title=Current Members of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities|url=http://www.bbaw.de/en/academy/members/alphabetical_order?letter=B|accessdate=24 June 2014|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923230501/http://www.bbaw.de/en/academy/members/alphabetical_order?letter=B|url-status=dead}}
• 2005: Best Law Book of the Year, by the German law journal Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, his book Unverdientes Vermögen [Unearned Wealth]{{cite web|title=Juristische Bücher des Jahres – Eine Leseempfehlung|url=https://beck-online.beck.de/default.aspx?vpath=bibdata%2fzeits%2fNJW%2f2005%2fcont%2fNJW.2005.3336.1.htm#A|accessdate=24 June 2014}}
• 2005: Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities donated by the Commerzbank Foundation.{{cite web|title=Prizewinners|url=http://www.bbaw.de/en/academy/awards/prizes/prize-of-the-berlin-brandenburg-academy-of-sciences-and-humanities-2013-donated-by-the-commerzbank-foundation|accessdate=24 June 2014|archive-date=8 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908182001/http://www.bbaw.de/en/academy/awards/prizes/prize-of-the-berlin-brandenburg-academy-of-sciences-and-humanities-2013-donated-by-the-commerzbank-foundation|url-status=dead}} In its tribute, the Academy states that Jens Beckert is “one of the most original and productive sociologists of his generation, both nationally and internationally. He is considered a leading proponent of a new economic sociology [...].”{{cite web|title=Tribute to Jens Beckert|url=http://www.bbaw.de/die-akademie/auszeichnungen/preise/commerzbank-preis/2005|accessdate=24 June 2014|archive-date=11 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011163848/http://www.bbaw.de/die-akademie/auszeichnungen/preise/commerzbank-preis/2005|url-status=dead}}

• Uncertain Futures: Imaginaries, Narratives, and Calculation in the Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018 (ed. with Richard Bronk), ISBN 978-0-19-882080-2
• [http://www.mpifg.de/pu/books_wz/2016/wz_jb1_2016-3.asp Imagined Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics.] Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2016.
• [http://www.mpifg.de/pu/books_wz/2013/wz_jb1-musln_2013-9.asp Constructing Quality: The Classification of Goods in Markets.] Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013 (ed. with Christine Musselin).
• [http://www.mpifg.de/pu/books_wz/2011/wz_jb1_2011-5.asp The Worth of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in the Economy.] New York: Oxford University Press 2011 (ed. with Patrick Aspers).
• [http://www.mpifg.de/pu/books_wz/2008/wz_jb1_2008-1.asp Inherited Wealth.] Princeton: Princeton University Press 2008. (German edition: [http://www.mpifg.de/pu/books_wz/2004/wz-beckert2004-7.asp Unverdientes Vermögen: Soziologie des Erbrechts.] Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, 2004).
• [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7429.html Beyond the Market: The Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency.] Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002. (German edition: [http://www.campus.de/buecher-campus-verlag/wissenschaft/soziologie/grenzen_des_marktes-694.html Grenzen des Marktes.] Frankfurt a.M.: Campus 1997).

• Beckert, Jens (2023). "Varieties of Wealth: Toward a Comparative Sociology of Wealth Inequality". Socio-Economic Review{{Cite journal |last=Beckert |first=Jens |date=2023-12-25 |title=Varieties of wealth: toward a comparative sociology of wealth inequality |journal=Socio-Economic Review |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=475–499 |doi=10.1093/ser/mwad068 |issn=1475-1461|doi-access=free }}.
• Beckert, Jens (2022). "Durable Wealth: Institutions, Mechanisms, and Practices of Wealth Perpetuation". Annual Review of Sociology, 48: 233–255.{{Cite journal |last=Beckert |first=Jens |date=2022-07-29 |title=Durable Wealth: Institutions, Mechanisms, and Practices of Wealth Perpetuation |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-soc-030320-115024 |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |language=en |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=233–255 |doi=10.1146/annurev-soc-030320-115024 |issn=0360-0572}}
• Beckert, Jens (2021). "The Firm as an Engine of Imagination: Organizational Prospection and the Making of Economic Futures". Organization Theory, 2 (2).{{Cite journal |last=Beckert |first=Jens |date=April 2021 |title=The Firm as an Engine of Imagination: Organizational prospection and the making of economic futures |journal=Organization Theory |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=263178772110057 |doi=10.1177/26317877211005773 |issn=2631-7877|doi-access=free }}
• Beckert, Jens (2020). "Markets from Meaning: Quality Uncertainty and the Intersubjective Construction of Value". Cambridge Journal of Economics, 44 (2): 285–301.{{Cite journal |title=Markets from Meaning: Quality Uncertainty and the Intersubjective Construction of Value |url=https://academic.oup.com/cje/article/44/2/285/5550612?login=true |access-date=2024-02-22 |journal=Cambridge Journal of Economics| date=2019 | doi=10.1093/cje/bez035 | last1=Beckert | first1=Jens | volume=44 | issue=2 | pages=285–301 | doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=Imagined futures: fictional expectations in the economy|journal=Theory and Society|volume=42|issue=3|year=2013|pages=219–240|issn=0304-2421|doi=10.1007/s11186-013-9191-2|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-000E-EF70-7 |s2cid=55657162 |hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=Institutional Isomorphism Revisited: Convergence and Divergence in Institutional Change|journal=Sociological Theory|volume=28|issue=2|year=2010|pages=150–166|issn=0735-2751|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01369.x|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-4219-5|s2cid=32889286 |hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=How Do Fields Change? The Interrelations of Institutions, Networks, and Cognition in the Dynamics of Markets|journal=Organization Studies|volume=31|issue=5|year=2010|pages=605–627|issn=0170-8406|doi=10.1177/0170840610372184|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-41FC-F |s2cid=145148295 |hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=The social order of markets|journal=Theory and Society|volume=38|issue=3|year=2009|pages=245–269|issn=0304-2421|doi=10.1007/s11186-008-9082-0|doi-access=free|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-43EA-7|hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=Agency, Entrepreneurs, and Institutional Change. The Role of Strategic Choice and Institutionalized Practices in Organizations|journal=Organization Studies|volume=20|issue=5|year=2016|pages=777–799|issn=0170-8406|doi=10.1177/0170840699205004|s2cid=145494629 }}
• {{cite journal|last1=Beckert|first1=Jens|title=What is sociological about economic sociology? Uncertainty and the embeddedness of economic action|journal=Theory and Society|volume=25|issue=6|year=1996|pages=803–840|issn=0304-2421|doi=10.1007/BF00159817|s2cid=144369748 }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.mpifg.de/people/jb1/index_en.asp Homepage Jens Beckert]
• [http://www.mpifg.de/aktuelles/forschung/doks/06-09-00_Beckert_MPResearch.pdf Personal Portrait – Jens Beckert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001039/http://www.mpifg.de/aktuelles/forschung/doks/06-09-00_Beckert_MPResearch.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }} In: MaxPlanckResearch, 3/2006
• [http://www.mpifg.de/people/jb1/publikation_en.asp Publication list]
• [http://kvk.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib-bin/kvk/nph-kvk2.cgi?maske=kvk-last&lang=de&title=KIT-Bibliothek%3A+Karlsruher+Virtueller+Katalog+KVK+%3A+Ergebnisanzeige&head=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-head-de-2010-11-08.html&header=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-header-de-showEmbeddedFullTitle.html&spacer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-spacer-de-2010-11-08.html&footer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-footer-de-2010-11-08.html&css=none&input-charset=utf-8&kvk-session=248SCJ7M&ALL=&Timeout=120&TI=&PY=&AU=jens+beckert&SB=&CI=&SS=&ST=&PU=&kataloge=BL&kataloge=WORLDCAT&inhibit_redirect=1 Jens Beckert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811163221/http://kvk.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib-bin/kvk/nph-kvk2.cgi?maske=kvk-last&lang=de&title=KIT-Bibliothek%3A%20Karlsruher%20Virtueller%20Katalog%20KVK%20%3A%20Ergebnisanzeige&head=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-head-de-2010-11-08.html&header=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-header-de-showEmbeddedFullTitle.html&spacer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-spacer-de-2010-11-08.html&footer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-footer-de-2010-11-08.html&css=none&input-charset=utf-8&kvk-session=248SCJ7M&ALL=&Timeout=120&TI=&PY=&AU=jens%20beckert&SB=&CI=&SS=&ST=&PU=&kataloge=BL&kataloge=WORLDCAT&inhibit_redirect=1 |date=2014-08-11 }} in the [https://www.worldcat.org/ WorldCat catalog] (accessed via Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog)
• [http://www.maxpo.eu Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies]
• [http://imprs.mpifg.de/ International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy]

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Category:Living people

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