Jens Beckert is professor of sociology and director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. Previously he was Professor of sociology at the Georg-August-University Göttingen and Associate Professor of sociology at the International University Bremen. He studied sociology and business administration at the Freie Universität Berlin and the New School for Social Research in New York. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the Freie Universität in 1996 and his Habilitation in 2003. Beckert was a visiting fellow at the sociology department of Princeton University in 1994/95 and at the Center for European Studies of Harvard University in 2001/02. In 2007 he was a Fernand Braudel Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and in 2008 a visiting fellow at the Centre de sociologie des organisations (CSO) in Paris. His research focuses on the fields of economic sociology, organization theory and social theory. Recent publications: The Worth of Goods. Valuation and Pricing in the Economy (ed. with Patrik Aspers), Oxford University Press, 2011. Inherited Wealth, Princeton University Press, 2008. Beyond the Market. The Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency, Princeton University Press 2002. International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology (ed. with Milan Zafirovski), Routledge 2006.