Contenu
"In this new book, sociologist Adam Hayes brings a sociologist's toolkit to bear on the influential field of behavioral economics, arguing that scholars in that area have overemphasized a psychological approach at the expense of social factors such as race and gender that significantly shape our decision making. Behavioral economics has done much to amend classical economic theory's tenet that individuals behave rationally--that is to say, in their own economic best interest. Behavioral economists instead consider the complex factors that influence how an individual approaches a given financial choice. Adam Hayes takes this approach further yet, showing how social forces beyond an individual mind affect decision making. Interpersonal relations, social position, culture, institutions, and technology play a role in economic activities such as saving and investing, borrowing and lending, and financial risk-taking. Hayes shows how cultural factors can first determine an economic disposition, which affects how we think about and relate to financial decisions. He then demonstrates that our social networks guide our thinking about money, reinforcing cultural norms like fairness, reciprocity, revenge, and inclusion or exclusion. Hayes also tackles a huge driver of economic inequality, which is usually addressed only descriptively by economists: gender. While economists might acknowledge that women are less likely to invest in the stock market or are paid less for their labor, they don't generally look at the cultural factors that lead to these discrepancies. What Hayes gives us is a way of understanding the why of these discrepancies, rather than merely acknowledging that they exist. Behavioral economists have argued that psychological nudges can help redress "irrational" economic decisions and promote greater wealth equality, but Hayes shows that these cognitive approaches are only a part of the picture. To begin to correct major disparities in our social understanding of wealth and money, we need to engineer financial systems that consider a diversity of social backgrounds"--