NOTE: Although the following article has not been revised for this edition of the Encyclopedia, the substantive coverage is currently appropriate. The editors have provided a list of recent works at the end of the article to facilitate research and exploration of the topic.

Economic determinism refers to a kind of causality in which an economic variable x causes a condition of behavior y. This statement of direct causality contains very little actual economic determinism. But in stating that economic condition x is the most determining factor in causing behavior y, we have a model for economic determinism that is quite common in economics and sociology. This model appears in Weber's (1979) Economy and Society; in his discussion of domination he states:

Nor does domination utilize in every case economic power for its foundation and maintenance. But in the vast majority of cases, and indeed in the...