Transcending History’s Heavy Hand: The Future in Economic Action

Abstract This paper discusses sociological analyses of the formation and role of expectations in the economy. Recognition of the social constitution of expectations advances the understanding of economic action under conditions of uncertainty and helps to explain core features of modern capitalist societies. The range of applications of the analytical perspective is illustrated by closer examination of three core spheres of capitalist societies: consumption, investment, and innovation. To provide an idea of core challenges of the approach, three major research questions for the sociological analysis of expectations are presented.Zusammenfassung Wie lassen sich die Entstehung und die Rolle von Erwartungen in der Wirtschaft soziologisch analysieren? Erwartungen sind sozial konstituiert. Der Rekurs auf Erwartungen trägt zum Verständnis wirtschaftlichen Handelns unter Bedingungen von Unsicherheit und zum Verständnis charakteristischer Wesenszüge moderner kapitalistischer Gesellschaften bei. Nähere Betrachtungen von drei Sphären wirtschaftlicher Aktivität – Konsum, Investition und Innovation – verdeutlichen das breite Spektrum möglicher Anwendungen der Erwartungsperspektive in der Wirtschaftssoziologie. Die zentralen Herausforderungen für die soziologische Analyse von Erwartungen werden anschließend anhand von drei wichtigen Forschungsfragen skizziert.Contents 1 Introduction 2 Uncertainty and the social constitution of expectations 3 Expectations in contemporary capitalism Consumption Investment Innovation 4 Questions and perspectives of an economic sociology of expectations Where do expectations come from? How do expectations spread and gain momentum? The moral economy of expectations 5 Conclusion Reference

Yükseköğretim talebi, insan sermayesi, öğretmen yetiştirme, yükseköğretim öğrencilerinin görüşleri, Türkiye.

There are some risks and uncertainties like imperfect intrapersonal assessments, size of investment in education, unknown future demand conditions in labor market, and students’ distorted knowledge about the quality of schooling around decision to enter higher education. These risks and uncertainties may cause underinvestment in higher education and/or influence program choices. In a group of higher education students from Mersin University Department of English Language Teaching (in Mersin, Turkey), opinions on these factors or conditions were gathered through a questionnaire. Results show that students have learned from their previous attainments so they are mostly aware of their abilities, have considered future employment conditions, and their assessments on quality of schooling were distorted. Although they are risk averse, they did not consider the cost of higher education as a criterion for school choice. It is recommended that risks and uncertainties around higher education demand should be examined together with students’ secondary school and family backgrounds.Yükseköğrenime devam etme kararını verirken bireyler kendi yeteneklerini yeterince iyi değerlendirememe, eğitim yatırımının büyüklüğü, gelecekte işgücü piyasalarındaki talep koşulları ve çarpık kalite algısı gibi faktörlerden kaynaklanan birtakım risk ve belirsizliklerle karşı karşıya kalırlar. Bu risk ve belirsizlikler yükseköğretime eksik yatırım yapmaya neden olabileceği gibi program tercihlerini de etkileyebilir. Bu çalışmada Mersin Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi İngilizce Öğretmenliği Bölümü’nden bir grup öğrencinin bu faktör veya koşullarla ilgili görüşleri bir anket aracılığıyla temin edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, öğrencilerin önceki eğitim yaşantıları dolayısıyla yeteneklerinden haberdar olduklarını, gelecekteki istihdam koşullarını önemsediklerini ve aldıkları eğitimin kalitesiyle ilgili algılarının çarpık olduğunu göstermektedir. Öğrencilerin risk almaktan kaçındıkları halde eğitim maliyetlerinin yükseköğretim tercihlerini etkileyen temel bir faktör olmadığı ortaya çıkmaktadır. Yükseköğretim talebini belirleyen risk ve belirsizliklerin öğrencilerin ortaöğretim ve aile geçmişleriyle birlikte incelenmesi önerilmektedir

Relationship between Population and Agricultural Land in Amasya

Urban development endangers agricultural and natural areas. It causes the rural population to immigrate to urban areas due to appealing life standards and leads to the extinction of rural areas. In addition, reduced rural population causes urban areas to select rural areas as development areas. This problem of rural areas can be better described in the areas that have completed their urban development but still continue to develop. This article discusses the effect of population in determining the areas which see population increases and are under pressure