Homo Economicus as Fallen Man: The Need for Theological Economics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Tatum
Keyword(s):  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Theological Economics

How Homo economicus lost her mind and how we can revive her

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter DeScioli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Target Article ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe target article by Boyer & Petersen (B&P) contributes a vital message: that people have folk economic theories that shape their thoughts and behavior in the marketplace. This message is all the more important because, in the history of economic thought, Homo economicus was increasingly stripped of mental capacities. Intuitive theories can help restore the mind of Homo economicus.

THE EARLY MODERN ORIGINS OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-54
Author(s):  
Richard Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Economic Rationality ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Behavioral Psychology ◽  
Human Conduct ◽  
The Social

AbstractFor all the recent discoveries of behavioral psychology and experimental economics, the spirit of homo economicus still dominates the contemporary disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology. Turning back to the earliest chapters of political economy, however, reveals that pioneering figures such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and Adam Smith were hardly apostles of economic rationality as they are often portrayed in influential narratives of the development of the social sciences. As we will see, while all three of these thinkers can plausibly be read as endorsing “rationality,” they were also well aware of the systematic irrationality of human conduct, including a remarkable number of the cognitive biases later “discovered” by contemporary behavioral economists. Building on these insights I offer modest suggestions for how these thinkers, properly understood, might carry the behavioral revolution in different directions than those heretofore suggested.

Social movements and exchanges: Sketch of a theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 104346312110351
Author(s):  
Nicolás M Somma
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Political Leverage

Using social exchange theory, this article presents a new theory for understanding the strategic choices made by social movement leaders—the “movement exchanges” theory. It looks at how leaders engage in exchanges of valued rewards with constituencies, institutional political players, bystander publics, and voluntary organizations. Leaders receive from these players important rewards (like committed activists, political leverage, and resources) for achieving movement goals. In turn, leaders make strategic choices (expressed in frames, tactics, targets, and claims) that other players find rewarding, favoring persistent exchanges across time. By considering movements’ simultaneous exchanges with several players, the theory makes sense of choices that remain puzzling for major movement theories. It also blends strategic behavior with culture (in the form of utopias, ideology, and emotions) but does not require the maximizing assumption of the homo economicus. I use the case of the contemporary Chilean student movement to illustrate the theory.

scholarly journals Theorizing Teacher Responsibility in an Age of Neoliberal Accountability

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Besley
Keyword(s):  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Teacher Responsibility ◽  
Keynesian Economics ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Market Rationality ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Neoliberal Policies ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Welfare State

This article explores concepts of teacher responsibility, accountability, being in loco parentis, and responsibilization as many advanced capitalist societies have dropped policies and practices that were set up in the mid 19th century after the Great Depression in the welfare state under Keynesian economics. Since the early 1980s most of these states have adopted neoliberal policies and market rationality for all aspects of social policy including education. Under neoliberalism, the subject theorised by Homo economicus, is one that is theorised as a rational autonomous individual, with its responsibilized behavior underpinning much of how not only teachers but students now are compleed to behace and perform. These have resulted in major shifts in attitudes to professionalism of teachers, in responsibilising individuals and so have impacted on subjectivity as the state has pulled back from all manner of social provision and has responsibilized the individual to be a consumer-citizen, a prudential and entrepreneurial self even in terms of education. The upshot is increasing use of audits, checklists and accountability regimes for teachers who are becoming increasingly a de-professionalised in a low-trust managerialist environment with students as consumers.

The economic approach to human behaviour under scrutiny: an overview of arguments for the autonomy of social action

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-240
Author(s):  
Milan Z. Zafirovski
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Utility Maximization ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Economic Approach ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Behaviour ◽  
Major Argument ◽  
Special Case

The article reviews and re-examines some arguments against the treatment of social action within the economic approach as an extension of economic behaviour/rationality and thus against its denial of the specific, irreducible nature of the extra-economic. A major argument is that social action is a sui generis phenomenon that cannot be reduced with theoretical impunity to its economic modalities. Social action is characterized by substantial autonomy relative to economic behaviour/rationality. Arguments about the autonomous character of social action seek to remedy the indiscriminate extension of the economic approach beyond the field of economy to all human behaviour construed as consistent utility maximization. These arguments adduce certain classes of factors (socio-psychological, socio-cultural, socio-systemic and others) contributing toward the autonomy of social action. In addition, the economic-approach treatment of the human actor as Homo economicus is reversed by conceiving the economy as a domain of social action of which economic behaviour is a special case.

“Who is there that doesn't calculate?” Homo economicus as a measuring instrument in non-market accounting

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Oliver Schlaudt
Keyword(s):  
Measuring Instrument ◽  
Narrow Sense ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Measuring Device

Abstract Contemporary approaches to “non-market accounting” depend critically on methods of “monetization”, i.e. determining prices for goods outside the market. Monetization constitutes a case of economic measurement in a narrow sense that has not yet been analysed in the literature on measurement in economics. Monetization, I will argue, uses homo economicus – originally created as a model to explain existing prices – as a measuring device, one that generates new prices for goods that are not traded on markets. Homo economicus, though long contested in microeconomics, is thus enjoying a dubious revival in non-market accounting.

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