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The Desocialising of Economic Theory

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  • Jackson, William A.

Abstract

This paper aims to show that economic theory has become ‘desocialised’ and separated from social theory through the adoption of individualistic methods and neglect of social relations and structures. A historical overview traces how the social content of economic theory has diminished, considering the reasons why. Desocialisation has stemmed from the desire for boundaries between academic disciplines, which drove economics towards individualism and other social sciences towards structural methods. Such an artificial divide between economic theory and social theory is argued to be detrimental to all the disciplines concerned. Restrictions imposed by desocialised theory have practical consequences for how we understand and model the economy. Some reforms that would loosen the restrictions so as to promote a resocialised economics are suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackson, William A., 2013. "The Desocialising of Economic Theory," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 40(9), pages 809-825.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:270916
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    Cited by:

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    3. William A. Jackson, 2015. "Distributive Justice With and Without Culture," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(6), pages 673-688, December.
    4. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2022. "The Conceptual Resilience of the Atomistic Individual in Mainstream Economic Rationality," MPRA Paper 112944, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic theory; social theory; methodological individualism; social structure; duality; stratification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B40 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - General
    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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