Books by Dave (Loughborough University) Elder-Vass

Dave Elder-Vass argues that dominant approaches to the economy miss much of what happens in real economies and that the rise of the digital economy has made this problem more evident. He proposes a new framework to analyse diverse economic systems, and applies it to cases drawn from the digital economy.

Many features of our social world are said to be socially constructed by forces such as language, culture and knowledge. Constructionism is usually seen as opposed to realist social theory. This book argues that versions of these ideas are compatible and that social scientists should be both realists and constructionists.

The problem of structure and agency has been debated in the social sciences for many years. This book offers a solution by examining the mechanisms that confer causal power on both individual agents and larger social structures, showing how social structural powers emerge from interactions between agents.