Section: Current Research
Current and Recent Research
The “social studies of finance” is the application of social science disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, human geography, gender studies, socio-legal studies, and science and technology studies to the study of financial markets. This multidisciplinary area is one of increasing research interest, particularly in the wake of the recent financial crisis.
This website contains information about the Edinburgh group's members, current projects, and links to individuals in the wider research community
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Job Announcement: Research Fellowship in the Social Studies of Finance The intellectual challenge: investment managers control around $100 trillion, the bulk of the world’s financial capital. Help us understand how they choose where to invest it. The context: the School of Social and Political Science, in a large, predominantly qualitative project led by Professor Donald MacKenzie and funded by the European Research Council: Evaluation Practices in Financial Markets (EPIFM). The successful candidate will have either a PhD in the social sciences and experience of similar research, together with a reasonable background in mathematics; or extensive academic/ practitioner experience of finance. This fixed-term post is available from 1 September 2012 to 31 August 2015. Appointment will be made on the Grade 7 Scale, £30,122 - £35,938. Applications should be made through the posting on jobs.ed.ac.uk. |
Although finance traditionally has been the domain of economics, understanding the various forces shaping the performance of contemporary financial markets requires the use of a variety of intellectual perspectives from across the social sciences. The "social studies of finance" is a multidisciplinary community of scholars working to understand the social, political and technical factors shaping the contemporary practice of finance.
Scholars working within social studies of finance have shown, for instance, that financial valuation and exchange are performed by individuals socialised into distinct cultures of practice, while economic information is often shared within well-defined networks of market practitioners who know each personally. Technical elements that at first glance seem unimportant, such as the popularity of particular financial models, the design of information infrastructures, and the structure of legal and regulatory frameworks, all play a crucial role in shaping the performance and stability of financial markets.
Since the founding of the Social Studies of Finance Association in Paris in 2000, the field has developed into a diverse network of scholars from around the world. Since then, the University of Edinburgh has established itself as a leading institution for research and graduate education in this new and exciting field.
This page was published on 14 May 2012