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Bruce Carruthers

John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology

Area(s) of Interest

Comparative Sociology, Economy and Society, Sociology of Law, Sociology of Organizations

Relevant Links

Comparative Historical Social Science

Biography

At Northwestern, Carruthers is involved in the graduate Comparative Historical Social Science (CHSS) program and the Kellogg-Sociology Joint-PhD program.

His current research projects include a comparative study of the institutional foundations of long-term decision-making, the adoption of “for-profit” features by U.S. museums, the relationship between corporate taxation and corporate social responsibility, and how “big data” affects credit markets. He has had visiting fellowships at the Russell Sage Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, the Library of Congress, and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, and received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Currently, he is a non-resident long-term fellow at the Swedish Collegium. He is methodologically agnostic, and does not believe that the qualitative/quantitative distinction is worth fighting over. Northwestern is Carruthers’ first teaching position.

Carruthers has authored or co-authored six books, City of Capital: Politics and  Markets in the English Financial Revolution (Princeton, 1996), Rescuing Business: The Making of Corporate Bankruptcy Law in England and the United States (Oxford, 1998), Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings and  Social Structure (Pine Forge Press, 2000), Bankrupt: Global Lawmaking and Systemic Financial Crisis (Stanford, 2009), Money and Credit: A Sociological Approach (Polity Press, 2010), and The Economy of Promises: Trust, Power, and Credit in America (Princeton, 2022).  


Courses Taught

SOCIOL 215: Economy and Society Syllabus

SOCIOL 302: Sociology of Complex Organizations Syllabus

SOCIOL 330: Law, Markets, and Globalization Syllabus

SOCIOL 331: Markets, Hierarchies, and Democracies

SOCIOL 335: Sociology of Decision Making Syllabus

SOCIOL 376: Special Topics: Law, Markets, & Global Economy Syllabus

SOCIOL 437: Economic Sociology Syllabus

SOCIOL 439: Comparative & Historical Sociology Syllabus

Books

Money and Credit: A Sociological Approach
Polity Press, 2010

Bankrupt: Global Lawmaking and Systemic Financial Crisis
Stanford, 2009

City of Capital: Politics and Markets in the English Financial Revolution
Princeton, 1996

Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings and Social Structure
Pine Forge Press, 2000

Rescuing Business: The Making of Corporate Bankruptcy Law in England and the United States
Oxford, 1998

Publications

Accounting for Rationality: Double-Entry Bookkeeping and the Rhetoric of Economic Rationality
With Wendy Nelson Espeland; ASA, American Journal of Sociology, 1991

A Sociology of Bubbles
Contexts, 2009

The Color of Money and the Nature of Value: Greenbacks and Gold in Postbellum America
With Sarah Babb; The American Journal of Sociology; The University of Chicago Press, 1996

The Social Structure of Liquidity: Flexibility, Markets, and States
With Arthur L. Stinchcombe; Theory and Society, 1999