James Douglas Montgomery (born April 13, 1963) is professor of
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
and
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
. He received his Ph.D. in economics from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. He has applied game-theoretic models and non-monotonic logic to present formal analysis and description of social theories and sociological phenomena. He was the recipient of James Coleman Award (1999) for his paper “Toward a Role-Theoretic Conception of Embeddedness”. His paper is a major contribution towards formalization of social theories and sociological interpretation of game theories since he presents a repeated-game model in which the players are not individuals (as traditionally conceived in economic models) but assume social roles such as a profit-maximizing "businessperson" and nonstrategic "friend" (Montgomery, 1999).
In the early 1990s, Montgomery contributed to economic theories of network structures in labor market. In 1991, Montgomery incorporated network structures in an
adverse selection
In economics, insurance, and risk management, adverse selection is a market situation where buyers and sellers have different information. The result is that participants with key information might participate selectively in trades at the expe ...
model to analyze the effects of social networks on
labor market outcomes. In 1992, Montgomery explored the role of “weak ties”, which he defined as non-frequent and transitory social relations, in labor market.
[Montgomery, J.D. (1994). “Weak Ties, Employment, and Inequality: An Equilibrium Analysis”, ''American Journal of Sociology'', 99 (Mar.): 1212-36.] He demonstrates that weak ties are positively related to higher wages and higher aggregate employment rates.
He is currently working on integrating non-monotonic logic with social network analysis in the context of sociological theories.
Selected works
* "The Logic of Role Theory: Role Conflict and Stability of the Self-Concept", ''
Journal of Mathematical Sociology'', 29 (January 2005): 33-71.
* "A Formalization and Test of the Religious Economies Model", ''American Sociological Review'', 68 (October 2003): 782-809.
* "The Self as a Fuzzy Set of Roles, Role Theory as a Fuzzy System", ''Sociological Methodology'', 30 (2000): 261-314.
* "Adverse Selection and Employment Cycles", ''Journal of Labor Economics'', 17 (April 1999): 281-97.
* "Toward a Role-Theoretic Conception of Embeddedness", ''American Journal of Sociology'', 104 (July 1998): 92-125.
* "The Structure of Social Exchange Networks: A Game-Theoretic Reformulation of Blau's Model", ''Sociological Methodology'', 26 (1996): 193-225.
* "Rationality and the Framing of Religious Choices", with Mark Chaves, ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', 35 (June 1996): 128-44.
* "Contemplations on the Economic Approach to Religious Behavior", ''American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings'', 86'' (May 1996): 443-447.
* "The Dynamics of the Religious Economy: Exit, Voice, and Denominational Secularization", ''
Rationality and Society'', 8 (February 1996): 81-110.
* "Revisiting Tally's Corner: Mainstream Norms, Cognitive Dissonance, and Underclass Behavior", ''Rationality and Society'', 6 (October 1994): 462-88.
References
External links
Curriculum vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, James D.
American sociologists
1963 births
Living people
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
21st-century American economists
Network scientists