Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-225) and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- 2. What Do We Mean by "Development?" -- 3. Is International Inequality Gradational or Relational? -- 4. Explaining National Mobility in the Cold War Era -- 5. The Diffusion and Demise of Free-Market Reform in the Post-Cold War Era -- 6. What If Sociologists Were in Charge?.

Schrank draws concrete examples from different regions and epochs to explore sociological thinking about development and underdevelopment informed by the latest currents in economic sociology. Across a series of chapters, he identifies relationships between mainstream and Marxist approaches to the study of international inequality; uses classical and contemporary social theory to develop a parsimonious typology of national development outcomes; addresses cross-border learning and diffusion in light of the latest developments in organisation theory; considers the roles of religious, racial, and gender identity in driving development in different places and times; and portrays contemporary global challenges - such as populism, pandemics, and climate change - as distinctly sociological problems in need of multifaceted solutions.