1 Economics and power The volume starts from the idea that economics as academic discipline and profession has enhanced infuence and power during recent decades in many countries and in several social spheres. The forms of power, domination and authority that open up diferent channels of infuence for economics are com- plex and diverse. But economics is not only a source of power, it is also product of power and domination through discourses, felds, networks and other means and tools. These discourses, felds and networks are controlled by diferent governmentalities and rules and they span diferent sectors of society. Thus, the study of economists, economics and economic expert discourse cannot be restricted to academia, as it involves a variety of domains of investigation (Maesse, 2015). Accordingly, economists occupy positions at the top of institutional hierar- chies in diferent sectors, such as banks and large frms, the state and the media, as well as within academia. They serve as consultants and advisors in several policy felds, ranging from fscal to health and social security policy. Econo- mists are appointed to the boards of big corporations, as governance experts, senior civil servants and central bankers. Economists are also members of con- sulting teams for newspapers and other media, regularly publish op-eds and leads, while acting as economic experts and translating their symbolic capital into policy by coining core “economic imaginaries” (Jessop, 2010). Actually, leading newspapers in the German-speaking area have started to establish their own economists’ rankings based on their impact in several social spheres. Addi- tionally, economists have become a dominant professional group, compared to traditional professions and other social science disciplines. At the international level, economists work in various infuential organisations, such as the Interna- tional Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the European Central Bank (ECB) (Dezalay & Garth, 1998). Furthermore, economists cannot act within society without a strong base in academia and science. Accordingly, economists constitute one of the most advanced examples of an international scientifc feld, resulting from a long pro- cess of standardisation of practices, careers and curricula, as well as the adoption 1 The role of power in the social studies of economics An introduction Jens Maesse, Stephan Pühringer, Thierry Rossier and Pierre Benz