The Sociological Foundations of Consumer Behavior

Neoclassical economic theory asserts that when the assumptions of perfect competition apply to a market economy, the allocation of inputs and/or outputs is such that by additional inputs or outputs no individual's welfare can be improved without diminishing some other individual's. That is, it is considered Pareto Efficient. When imperfect markets exist, however, externalities-influences from outside the economic process-in production and exchange, and indivisibilities-benefits or costs which cannot be allocated to or assessed against the individuals who enjoy or occasion them-appear and the market ceases to be an efficiently operated one. It is argued here that a fourth category of factors exists which may interfere with economic efficiency and that these factors are sociological in nature, factors arising from such considerations as class, status, role and power

Class (philosophy) · Competition (biology) · Economic efficiency · Economics · Externality · Imperfect · Imperfect competition · Market economy · Market power · Microeconomics · Neoclassical economics · Pareto efficiency · Pareto principle · Perfect competition · Production (economics) · Welfare · Economic Theory and Institutions

• Public Perceptions about Food Safety in the United States and Japan1

  Open Access•Raymond A Jussaume, D H Judson•Rural Sociology•1992

  Add to list