James Douglas Montgomery is professor of sociology and economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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 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 but assume social roles such as a profit-maximizing "businessperson" and nonstrategic "friend". 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 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. 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 : 33-71.
"A Formalization and Test of the Religious Economies Model", American Sociological Review, 68 : 782-809.
"The Self as a Fuzzy Set of Roles, Role Theory as a Fuzzy System", Sociological Methodology, 30 : 261-314.
"Adverse Selection and Employment Cycles", Journal of Labor Economics, 17 : 281-97.
"Toward a Role-Theoretic Conception of Embeddedness", American Journal of Sociology, 104 : 92-125.
"The Structure of Social Exchange Networks: A Game-Theoretic Reformulation of Blau's Model", Sociological Methodology, 26 : 193-225.
"Rationality and the Framing of Religious Choices", with Mark Chaves, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35 : 128-44.
"Contemplations on the Economic Approach to Religious Behavior", American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 86 : 443-447.
"The Dynamics of the Religious Economy: Exit, Voice, and Denominational Secularization", Rationality and Society, 8 : 81-110.
"Revisiting Tally's Corner: Mainstream Norms, Cognitive Dissonance, and Underclass Behavior", Rationality and Society, 6' : 462-88.
