Download or read book The Social Economics of Human Material Need written by John Bryan Davis and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of seven essays, a project of the Association for Social Economics, challenges the conventional paradigm of mainstream economics--which rejects human need as a viable concept--and seeks to establish a new paradigm grounded in human material need under its two distinct aspects: physical need and the need for work as such. In the Introduction, John B. Davis maintains that mainstream economic theory denies that needs can be distinguished from wants and so does not recognize the importance of this dimension of economic life. He argues that it is virtually impossible to discuss the economy without addressing the individuals, families, and communities whose needs go unmet and who thus become the focus of social and economic policies. The contributors establish in their essays a philosophical and methodological foundation to explain the nature of need and its centrality to economics. They present a new socioeconomic paradigm based on human material need, which is presented in the context of the three principles that organize economic affairs--competition, cooperation, and intervention--and which is underlaid by the social values of freedom, community, and equality. Essayists strive to incorporate the duality of human nature--the recognition that every human being is at once an individual and a social being--in their definition of human physical need and the need for work. They further address unmet individual material need through private- and public-sector remedies. The essays include "Need as a Mode of Discourse," by Warren J. Samuels; "The Person and the Social Economy: Needs, Values, and Principles," by Peter L. Danner; "Human Physical Need: A Concept That Is Both Absolute and Relative," by Edward J. O'Boyle; "Government Participation to Address Human Material Need," by Anthony E. Scaperlanda; "The Need for Work as Such: Self-Expression and Belonging," by Edward J. O'Boyle; "Social Management and the Self-Managed Firm," by Severyn T. Bruyn; and "Reconstruction of Mainstream Economics and the Market Economy," by John B. Davis and Edward J. O'Boyle.
Download or read book Social Economics written by Edward O'Boyle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-06-23 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Economics is a way of thinking about economic affairs that begins with the philosphical foundations. It begins at this level, frequently overlooked by mainstream economists, to illustrate how critical premises are in the construction of an economy and the repair of a dysfunctional economy. Social Economics uses these premises to undertake a rich range of empirical and policy related work. Much of this work is represented in this volume, which brings together leading practioners from the field of social economics. Subjects addressed include: * values and premises in social economics * justice, solidarity and community * repairing the dysfunction of capitalist economies * the transition from command economies
Download or read book Personalist Economics written by Edward J. O'Boyle and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personalist Economics: Moral Convictions, Economic Realities, and Social Action examines the nature of the worker and consumer from a personalist perspective, comparing that body of knowledge to what is received from conventional economics. A running theme throughout this book is that personalist economics is attentive to both aspects of human material need - physical need and the need for work as such - in a way that does not disregard human wants. Accordingly, this book is more concerned about the philosophical base and description of the economy's significant characteristics than social economic policy. Personalist Economics explores four dimensions of particularly acute human physical need: unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and death. In addressing these four aspects of need, the book delves into the second and third domains of social economics: description of the significant characteristics of the economy, and social economic policy. In the same way, Personalist Economics explores two types of economic cooperation - supra-firm alliances and inter-firm partnerships - as means for addressing certain aspects of human material need. This book concludes with a lengthy discussion of the challenges facing personalist economics in the years ahead.
Download or read book Social Economics Retrospect and Prospect written by Mark A. Lutz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the very heart of the conception of the present volume lies the conviction that social economics is a highly pluralistic discipline, inspired and enriched by several often radically different world views, Schumpeterian visions, and at times even quite antagonistic social doctrines. Yet, in spite of all these differences, social economists can nevertheless be seen and also approached as some kind of economic brotherhood for various reasons dissatisfied with the austere "value-free" diet offered by the pOSitivistic neoclassical paradigm. What all social economists seem to have in common is a profound interest in values and the process of valuation in order to more fully understand both economic behavior and the possibilities of improving the economic system. Such a distinguishing characteristic is also well articulated and enshrined in Article I of the Constitution of the Association of Social Economics where we are told that the aims and objectives of the Association shall be: 1. To foster research and publication centered on the reciprocal relationship between economic science and broader questions of human dignity, ethical values, and social philosophy, [and to] encourage the efforts of all scholars who are dedicated to exploring the ethical presuppositions and implications of economic science. 2. To consider the personal and social dimensions of economic problems and to assist in the formulation of economic policies consistent with a concern for ethical values and pluralistic community and the demands of personal dignity.
Download or read book The Mental and the Material written by Maurice Godelier and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2012-01-16 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the specificity of the human race within nature? How is its history to be explained? What impact do material realities, natural and man-made, have on human beings? What role does thought, in all its dimensions, play in the production of social relations? How are the human sciences to be advanced today? These are among the crucial questions confronted by Godelier in this key book of contemporary social theory. Its point of departure lies in a fact and a hypothesis. The fact: in contrast to other social animals, human beings do not just live in society; they produce society in order to live. The hypothesis: because they have the unique capacity to appropriate and transform nature, they produce culture and create history. Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork and ranging over the most diverse ethnographic data, Godelier substantiates his case by attending to the analysis of both social relations of production and the production of social relations. In a sustained challenge to currently dominant schemas, he offers a series of highly original theses on the constitution, reproduction and transformation of societies, recasting the distinction between infrastructure and superstructures, illuminating the relations between economic determination and political/ideological dominance, and clarifying the character of ideology and its central role in the perpetuation of dominance and exploitation.
Download or read book The Economics of Human Rights written by Elizabeth M. Wheaton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-21 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics plays a key role in human rights issues as decision-makers weigh the incentives associated with choosing how to use scarce resources in the context of committing or escaping human rights violence. This textbook provides an introduction to the microeconomic analysis of human rights utilizing economics as a lens through which to examine social topics including capital punishment, violence against women, asylum seeking, terrorism, child abuse, genocide, and hate. Whether analyzing the decisions made in capital punishment cases, the causes and consequences of genocide, or the impact of terrorist acts on domestic and international decision-making, the science of economics provides tools and a systematic method of analysis and policy recommendation. This key text presents a method for integrating the social sciences of economics and human rights to create new opportunities for the investigation of social issues. Within each chapter, readers gain a fundamental understanding of a specific human rights issue, the decision-makers and the decision-making process involved, and the benefits and costs leading to the decisions. Experts on each issue, drawn from a variety of fields, contribute to each chapter and present first-hand accounts and different perspectives on each issue. The detailed analyses and accounts provided also explore the potential incentives involved in the prevention and termination of human rights violations. Aiming to further economic inquiry and enhance interdisciplinary research, this textbook serves as a multi-purpose guide for a range of readers. Students, researchers, and educators, as well as those working in organizations supporting victims of human rights violations and policy-makers facing human rights challenges, will find this book informative and engaging.
Download or read book Economics for a Post Material Future written by Douglas E. Booth and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When asked, most people could say something about their personal philosophy-those beliefs and values that guide them on their path through life. In their theorizing and empirical work, economists normally assume that we humans make choices in the world for the purpose of maximizing our well-being. The philosophies behind our choices rarely get much traction in economic research beyond the idea of maximization itself. This I believe to be mistaken. Beliefs and values indeed influence the choices we make, economic and otherwise. My contention in the pages ahead is that shifts in personal philosophies matter and can fundamentally alter economic arrangements and outcomes. We may seek to maximize our well being, but our notion of what this means shifts with time and circumstances. What's of importance to us today may not be so tomorrow. To make my point in this book, I will describe a fundamental value shift underway globally and explore actual and potential economic changes flowing from it. This shift amounts to a weakening of an orientation to simple economic materialism and a strengthening of interest in more complex qualitative accomplishments and experiences that don't always require an expansion in private possessions. For economic materialists, the essential human purpose is the accumulation of material possessions even if basic biological survival is well assured. Economic materialists see the gaining of power, pleasure, status, social intercourse, creative accomplishment, and spirituality as heavily dependent on what one owns and privately consumes. Life is all about possessing and consuming, and little else. For post-materialists, access to material goods matters but is secondary to a life of meaning defined by a value-driven personal philosophy. The essential difference between materialism and post-materialism is one of emphasis. In the first case, the human psyche focuses on acquiring material possessions, and in the second it shifts to concern with not only the experiences of life but also the realization of an array of human values as the final source of meaning. In this shift we move further away from a basic quantitative and biological orientation to the satisfaction of physical needs and toward a qualitative satisfaction of wants for mental experiences. We in effect move from dwelling almost entirely on the material hardware of life to an expanded interest in its qualitative software. My essential purpose in this book is to review the evidence for a post-materialist value trend and to then establish and explain the economic changes flowing from it. My basic conclusion will be that personal philosophical outlooks have economic consequences. The future economy in a post-material world will feature such changes as these: more flexible working hours and shorter workweeks; a return to downtown living; an expanded clean energy sector and greenhouse gas emissions reductions; a substantial shift from acquisition of material possessions to more shared experiences and a rising demand for shared public goods; an activist fiscal policy to sustain employment in the face of weakening private sector consumption; and more expansive economic democracy and employee ownership. This vision looks like a political liberal's dream and a political conservative's worse nightmare. I could easily be wrong about its realization, but let me explain to you in this book why I think I am right. Then you can judge.
Download or read book The Mental and the Material written by Maurice Godelier and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity written by National Bureau of Economic Research and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The papers here range from description and analysis of how our political economy allocates its inventive effort, to studies of the decision making process in specific industrial laboratories. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book Economics for the Common Good written by Mark A Lutz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook presents an introduction to the central issues of social economics. Building on a venerable social economics tradition, the book recommends a more rational economic order and proposes new principles of economic policy. The issues covered include: * the inadequacy of individualistic economics in guiding the policy maker * a critique of economic rationality * rethinking of the modern business corporation * a critical look at markets as panacea * the harmful effects of international competition * environmental problems. The book introduces social economic concepts and challenges the reader to look beyond the confines of mainstream economic thinking to find a solution to these critical issues.
Download or read book Foundations of Real World Economics written by John Komlos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-01-11 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2008 financial crisis, the rise of Trumpism and the other populist movements which have followed in their wake have grown out of the frustrations of those hurt by the economic policies advocated by conventional economists for generations. Despite this, textbooks continue to praise conventional policies such as deregulation and hyperglobalization. This textbook demonstrates how misleading it can be to apply oversimplified models of perfect competition to the real world. The math works well on college blackboards but not so well on the Main Streets of America. This volume explores the realities of oligopolies, the real impact of the minimum wage, the double-edged sword of free trade, and other ways in which powerful institutions cause distortions in the mainstream models. Bringing together the work of key scholars, such as Kahneman, Minsky, and Schumpeter, this book demonstrates how we should take into account the inefficiencies that arise due to asymmetric information, mental biases, unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the manipulation of demand. This textbook offers students a valuable introductory text with insights into the workings of real markets not just imaginary ones formulated by blackboard economists. A must-have for students studying the principles of economics as well as micro- and macroeconomics, this textbook redresses the existing imbalance in economic teaching. Instead of clinging to an ideology that only enriched the 1%, Komlos sketches the outline of a capitalism with a human face, an economy in which people live contented lives with dignity instead of focusing on GNP.
Download or read book The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen written by David A. Reisman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fascination with the economics of Thorstein Veblen is today no less than it was fifty years ago. Many books have been written about his life and ideas. But David Reisman breaks new ground by providing one of the best and most comprehensive explainations of Veblen's thought. Written in a strikingly fresh and lucid style, this work is one of the landmarks of the literature on this great and enduringly relevant economist.' Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire, UK 'Considering the inability of conventional economics to comprehend the socio-economic convulsions over the past few years in so many countries, it is surely time to try something else. David Reisman's The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen thus appears at a most opportune moment. This original analytical study is the best introduction into Veblen's work that I know of, and will, I trust, encourage a renewal of interest in possibly the most unjustly neglected of economists. Reisman's primary contention that there is despite obstacles to comprehension created by Veblen's personal idiosyncrasies and unconventional literary style a Veblen structure of thought, or general system, is fully confirmed by the evidence presented in his book. In this demonstration lies its great merit.' Samuel Hollander, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel 'Veblen is a notoriously difficult economist to read and understand. He was, however, unequivocal in his scorn for neoclassical economics, whose demise he took pleasure in predicting. In light of the limp excuses offered by the economics profession for its failure to anticipate the current global financial crisis, Reisman's incisive analysis of Veblen's writings suggests that were Veblen alive today, he would be revelling in schadenfreude. This timely book will make uncomfortable reading for neoclassical economists.' Douglas Mair, Heriot-Watt University, UK 'Reisman offers a brilliant distillation of Veblen's jaundiced purview of the social, psychological and pecuniary motivations that have driven man the social animal in his economic life down the ages, from noble savage to predatory barbarian in his ancient, modern, and potential guises. Avoiding hagiography, this book exposes Veblen's exaggerations as well as his compelling institutional insights into the evolution of capitalism and socialism. Reisman's own intellectual sweep in explaining and criticising Veblen demonstrate political economy at its best.' Roger Sandilands, University of Strathclyde, UK Thorstein Veblen was a multidisciplinary social scientist whose original insights continue to inspire debate. Rather than focusing on allocation, markets and scarcity, his perspective on economics was rather one of Darwinian evolution and perpetual development, unfolding conventions and interpersonal constraints. This interdisciplinary and comprehensive book determines that Veblen's disparate theories of conspicuous consumption, imperial Germany, the giant corporation and the speculation-led cycle all add up to a consistent and coherent world-view. Veblen was a fascinating author who deserves to be read for himself. This penetrating new interpretation demonstrates that he also identified a serious threat to property and peace in the form of irresponsible finance and frustrated workmanship. He believed corporate capitalism was at risk from its internal contradictions. This lucid book assesses the logic behind Veblen's stark and apocalyptic vision. The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen examines all of Veblen's books and articles, revealing that they are closely integrated to form an organic whole. It will prove valuable for scholars and students interested in sociological theory, politics and political economy, history and institutional economics.
Download or read book Human Economics written by Sara Casagrande and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-11 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term “human economics” is sometimes used within economic theory with the hope of repositioning economic discipline as a human and social science, but with scarce success. Indeed, although great economists have always carefully considered human nature, it has been largely neglected in modern economics. This book explores the potentials of a human economics, arguing that the complexity and peculiarities of human nature should be central to the study of economics. Complex economic phenomena are subject to laws and limits that reveal their internal order in spite of the apparent randomness and unpredictability. The book embraces the contributions of thinkers and economists who have tried to fully consider human nature and society within their biological environment. From these solid foundations, the book introduces a different Weltanschauung, offers an analysis of socio-economic paradigms, and develops an alternative theoretical framework. On the basis of a transdisciplinary methodology, the book investigates human nature, interactions, and systems up to the macroeconomic cyclical development of the capitalist system. Future perspectives and issues facing modern economies are also discussed from environmental sustainability to globalization and socio-political challenges. This book marks an original contribution to the literature on retooling economic discipline and presents useful food for thought for scholarly readers while remaining accessible to graduates who are studying mainstream economics.
Download or read book The Wealth of Nature written by John Michael Greer and published by New Society Publisher. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wealth of Nature proposes a new model of economics based on the integral value of ecology. Building on the foundations of E.F. Schumacher's revolutionary "economics as if people mattered", this book examines the true cost of confusing money with wealth. By analyzing the mistakes of contemporary economics, it shows how an economy centered on natural capital-the raw materials that support human life-can move our society toward a more productive relationship with the planet that sustains us all. The Wealth of Nature suggests public policy initiatives and personal choices that can help alleviate the economic impact of peak oil. These strategies must address not only financial concerns, but the issues of resource depletion and pollution as well. Examples include: Adjusting tax policy to penalize the use of natural nonrenewable resources over recycled materials Placing public welfare above corporate interests Empowering individuals, families, and communities by prioritizing local, sustainable solutions Building economies at an appropriate scale. Profoundly insightful and impeccably argued, this book is required reading for anyone interested in the intersection of the environment and the economy as we enter the twilight of the Age of Abundance .
Download or read book Foundations of Human Sociality written by Joseph Henrich and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What motives underlie the ways humans interact socially? Are these the same for all societies? Are these part of our nature, or influenced by our environments? Over the last decade, research in experimental economics has emphatically falsified the textbook representation of Homo economicus. Literally hundreds of experiments suggest that people care not only about their own material payoffs, but also about such things as fairness, equity and reciprocity. However, this research left fundamental questions unanswered: Are such social preferences stable components of human nature; or, are they modulated by economic, social and cultural environments? Until now, experimental research could not address this question because virtually all subjects had been university students, and while there are cultural differences among student populations throughout the world, these differences are small compared to the full range of human social and cultural environments. A vast amount of ethnographic and historical research suggests that people's motives are influenced by economic, social, and cultural environments, yet such methods can only yield circumstantial evidence about human motives. Combining ethnographic and experimental approaches to fill this gap, this book breaks new ground in reporting the results of a large cross-cultural study aimed at determining the sources of social (non-selfish) preferences that underlie the diversity of human sociality. The same experiments which provided evidence for social preferences among university students were performed in fifteen small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of social, economic and cultural conditions by experienced field researchers who had also done long-term ethnographic field work in these societies. The findings of these experiments demonstrated that no society in which experimental behaviour is consistent with the canonical model of self-interest. Indeed, results showed that the variation in behaviour is far greater than previously thought, and that the differences between societies in market integration and the importance of cooperation explain a substantial portion of this variation, which individual-level economic and demographic variables could not. Finally, the extent to which experimental play mirrors patterns of interaction found in everyday life is traced. The book starts with a succinct but substantive introduction to the use of game theory as an analytical tool and its use in the social sciences for the rigorous testing of hypotheses about fundamental aspects of social behaviour outside artificially constructed laboratories. The results of the fifteen case studies are summarized in a suggestive chapter about the scope of the project.
Download or read book Human Scale Development written by Manfred A. Max-Neef and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a people-centred approach to development.
Download or read book Happiness and Economics written by Bruno S. Frey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Curiously, economists, whose discipline has much to do with human well-being, have shied away from factoring the study of happiness into their work. Happiness, they might say, is an ''unscientific'' concept. This is the first book to establish empirically the link between happiness and economics--and between happiness and democracy. Two respected economists, Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, integrate insights and findings from psychology, where attempts to measure quality of life are well-documented, as well as from sociology and political science. They demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income, unemployment, and inflation affect happiness. The research is centered on Switzerland, whose varying degrees of direct democracy from one canton to another, all within a single economy, allow for political effects to be isolated from economic effects. Not surprisingly, the authors confirm that unemployment and inflation nurture unhappiness. Their most striking revelation, however, is that the more developed the democratic institutions and the degree of local autonomy, the more satisfied people are with their lives. While such factors as rising income increase personal happiness only minimally, institutions that facilitate more individual involvement in politics (such as referendums) have a substantial effect. For countries such as the United States, where disillusionment with politics seems to be on the rise, such findings are especially significant. By applying econometrics to a real-world issue of general concern and yielding surprising results, Happiness and Economics promises to spark healthy debate over a wide range of the social sciences.
