On Justification: Economies of Worth

On Justification: Economies of Worth. By Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. Translated by Catherine Porter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 400p. $85.00 cloth, $39.50 paper. Those interested in any of a variety of fields—reasoning about justice, the foundations and mechanics of social interaction, rational action, value formation, norm change, or conflict—will find rich potential in this ambitious and challenging book by sociologist Luc Boltanski and economist/statistician Laurent Thévenot, which does not fit into any single research paradigm. Published in France more than 15 years ago, the book is available in this English translation and ought to have a significant impact on social theory…