This text examines critical and contemporary issues in the sociology of economic life. Bringing together a range of theoretical perspectives, it examines major shifts in the organization of economy and society--from the politics of globalization to the cultural economy, social exclusion and the "end" of class. The book is organized around three core themes: globalization, work and inequality. Key changes in each of these domains raise new challenges for analyzing social and economic relations, power, agency and identity. This book examines how these issues are being re-shaped in contemporary societies, and explores competing frameworks for understanding such changes. Drawing on arguments from economic sociology, politics and political economy, the text focuses on both conceptual approaches to the social study of the economy, and trans-national processes of social and economic restructuring. The arguments provide a critical overview of current concerns for economic sociology, and extend the boundaries of the discipline to a new set of questions.