IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijplur/v3y2012i1p23-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pluralism and sustainable development

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Söderbaum

Abstract

University departments of economics have to move from monism to pluralism in the sense of encouraging competing theoretical perspectives. The tension between monism and pluralism is not limited to economics paradigms but also concerns theory of science and ideological orientation. It is argued that dominant theory of science (positivism), dominant paradigm in economics (neoclassical) and dominant ideological orientation (neo-liberalism) together largely explain the institutions that are dominant in present society. Two arguments for pluralism in economics are stressed; it is not realistic to expect one paradigm to be the best for all purposes. The neoclassical perspective was developed for specific purposes and is insufficient for instance in relation to sustainability issues. In addition to the 'purpose' argument, there is an 'ideology-democracy' argument for pluralism. Each theoretical perspective in economics is specific not only in scientific terms but also in ideological terms. The present close to monopoly position of neoclassical economics at departments of economics limits the scope of economics research and education ideologically in a way that should not be accepted in a democratic society.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Söderbaum, 2012. "Pluralism and sustainable development," International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 23-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijplur:v:3:y:2012:i:1:p:23-39
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=47470
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Williamson, John, 2000. "What Should the World Bank Think about the Washington Consensus?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 15(2), pages 251-264, August.
    3. Funtowicz, Silvio O. & Ravetz, Jerome R., 1994. "The worth of a songbird: ecological economics as a post-normal science," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 197-207, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bob Frame, 2008. "‘Wicked’, ‘Messy’, and ‘Clumsy’: Long-Term Frameworks for Sustainability," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(6), pages 1113-1128, December.
    2. Ester Comas Argemí & Àngela D. Bosch Serra & Mamen Cuéllar Padilla & Gonzalo Gamboa Jiménez, 2012. "Sostenibilidad de la producción porcina en Cataluña (España). Aplicación del análisis multicriterio," Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Red Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, vol. 18, pages 1-19, Abril.
    3. Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2012. "Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 97-107.
    4. Baumgärtner, Stefan & Quaas, Martin, 2010. "What is sustainability economics?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 445-450, January.
    5. Klauer, Bernd & Messner, Frank & Herzog, Felix, 1999. "Supporting decisions on conflicting land-uses: An integrated ecological-economic approach," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/1999, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    6. Klara Helene Stumpf & Stefan Baumgärtner & Christian U. Becker & Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach, 2015. "The Justice Dimension of Sustainability: A Systematic and General Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-35, June.
    7. Prasopchoke Mongsawad, 2010. "The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy: a contribution to the theory of development," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 17(1), pages 123-143, June.
    8. Meppem, Tony & Bourke, Simon, 1999. "Different ways of knowing: a communicative turn toward sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 389-404, September.
    9. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    10. Chiesura, Anna & de Groot, Rudolf, 2003. "Critical natural capital: a socio-cultural perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 219-231, March.
    11. Voth, Donald E., 2004. "An Overview of International Development Perspectives in History: Focus on Agricultural and Rural Development," Staff Papers 15776, University of Arkansas, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.
    12. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    13. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    14. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    15. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    16. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    17. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    18. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    19. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    20. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijplur:v:3:y:2012:i:1:p:23-39. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=319 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.