Bringing Development Back into (Economic) Sociology: Andrew Schrank Interviewed by Felipe González and Aldo Madariaga

Andrew Schrank (Olive C. Watson Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs at Brown University) is one of the few academics with a true interdisciplinary trajectory and an exceptionally wide variety of interests in economic sociology and adjacent fields working on Latin America. Although he defines himself as an organizational sociologist, Andrew has held positions in both sociology and political science departments and has written about issues ranging from supply chains to foreign investment and labor standards, from healthcare to industrial policy and urban studies, and from varieties of capitalism to the role of culture in development, doing both broad comparative work and more focused case studies of small Mesoamerican countries like the Dominican Republic. Andrew co-authored the article that became the manifesto for the re-foundation of Latin America’s political economy tradition in what is now the Red Economía Política America Latina (REPAL) and is currently working on a book on economic sociology and development. Andrew agreed to talk about his views on the discipline, the challenges of interdisciplinarity, and his focus on Latin America. This is the result of a deeply engaged discussion over a Skype conversation and several e-mail exchanges where he calls for a return to sociology’s early motivation of studying societies through the lens of development and claims that “what we need is an economic sociology that takes Latin America seriously.” We thank Andrew for his generosity in sharing his thoughts with us

Lost Lake A Comparative Lake Survey.

On July 14, 1993, a survey of Lost Lake, located in the Pigeon River State Forest in Otsego County, Michigan was executed. The survey was completed by members of the University of Michigan Biological Station's Limnology class under the direction of Dr. Nancy Tuchman. The chemical, physical, and nutritional properties of the lake were determined at this time and in the following laboratory analysis. Temperature and dissolved oxygen stratifications were determined. Conductivity was uniform throughout the water column, indicating that Lost Lake is no longer meromictic. The average pH value was 7.4 suggesting relatively high alkalinity. Ammonia, nitrate, silica, magnesium, calcium and phosphate concentrations were determined by laboratory analysis and found to be typical of an oligotrophic, solution lake. The hardness values of Lost Lake are evidence of high calcium and magnesium concentrations. Light intensity was found to permeate very deep into the lake, with a compensation point located at 14 meters. Chlorophyll a values were low as expected for an oligotrophic lake. The Eckman dredge, plankton tows, and benthic sampling failed to produce high numbers of organisms. Based on these observations, we conclude that Lost Lake is no longer meromictic and is truly an oligotrophic lake.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/54485/1/2923.pd