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A Law for the Social Sciences Regarding Us Human Beings

Author

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  • Tiago Cardao-Pito

Abstract

This article proposes a feasible law for the social sciences asserting that we human beings are not commodities, assets, capital or resources. Mainstream economics and Marxism describe human participation in economic and societal production through a human-commodity framework. Intangible flow theory aims to replace that framework and interrelated conjectures as human capital, human assets and human resources. This theory is not exclusively applicable to capitalist/market organization forms. It suggests that (a) commodities are physical goods, and exhibit known characteristics differentiating them from human-related flows as service or knowledge flows; (b) human work has properties that make it akin to quasi-service production; (c) humans are not commodities, capital, assets or resources; (d) machines can obtain the skills necessary to replace human work or perform novel tasks when previously intangible dimensions are turned tangible (tangibilization); and (e) cash-flows generated or saved by those machines tend to flow to human beings who own or control them. According to this theory, greater attention must be paid to flows of economic material elements that display a relevant degree of empirical precision (e.g., cash and physical goods flows). JEL: A1, B1, B2, B4, B5

Suggested Citation

  • Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2016. "A Law for the Social Sciences Regarding Us Human Beings," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 28(2), pages 202-229, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jinter:v:28:y:2016:i:2:p:202-229
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    File URL: http://jie.sagepub.com/content/28/2/202.abstract
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Organizations as Producers of Operating Product Flows to Members of Society," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, August.
    2. Tiago Cardao-Pito & João Silva Ferreira, 2018. "‘Fair Value’ accounting as the normative Fisherian phase of accounting," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 149-179, September.
    3. Tiago Cardão-Pito, 2021. "Academic discipline of economics as hedonist philosophy," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 14(1-2), pages 199-207, November.
    4. Tiago Cardao-Pito & João Silva Ferreira, 2018. "Demystifying fair value accounting: rejoinder to Baker and Markarian," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 199-202, September.
    5. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Classes in Maximizing Shareholders’ Wealth: Irving Fisher’s Theory of the Economic Organization in Corporate Financial Economics Textbooks," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic sociology; heterodox economics; human capital; human–commodity framework; intangible flow theory; Marxism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches

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