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Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations, by Hayagreeva Rao. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. 205pp. $24.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780691134567.
Economic sociology's great argument is that markets are social institutions. Hayagreeva Rao's Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations illustrates this insight by arguing that industrial innovation can be accelerated or halted by mobilization. Building on published research, and accessibly presented, Rao shows how activism within markets can rescue a flailing product, or prevent a firm from pursuing chosen strategies. Intended for a broad authence, Market Rebels introduces the reader to research on markets and social movements and illustrates the links between sociology and the study of economic behavior.
Drawing on examples as diverse as the early auto industry, micro-brewing, and pharmaceutical firms, Rao describes how people rally around products or practices in the same way that policy draws movement activists. Success depends on how well "market rebels" appeal to new identities, exploit political opportunities, and frame products and services. Rao advances a plausible theory. The success, or non-success, of market mobilization depends on the nature of the cause and the style of mobilization. He draws attention to the idea...