What's Wrong with the Theory of Racial Inequality: Toward a More Effective Theory of Racial Inequality in Economic Life

1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
David H. Swinton
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Difference ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Effective Theory ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Over Time

Explaining or resolving the apparent incompatibility between traditional economic theory and the persistence of racial inequality or discrimination in economic life has been the most significant motivation for conventional studies of race and economics. The conventional theory that resulted from this interest, however, has been of limited utility in advancing understanding of racial inequality in economic life. This essay discusses an alternative to the conventional theory that is intended to facilitate a better understanding of racial inequality. It is also designed to provide a more effective tool for the evaluation and design of policy. The alternative model takes the existence of racially distinct groups and initial racial difference in the ownership of resources as given and exogenous. It is specified in a manner that allows the evolution of racial inequality over time to be explained. The structure of the model responds to challenges posed by Robert S. Browne to develop viable economic theories useful in the study of the interaction of race and economics.

A Realist Perspective on Contemporary "Economic Theory" (Foreword by O. Ananyin)

2006 ◽  
pp. 75-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Neoclassical Theory ◽  
Fundamental Feature ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Realist Perspective

The author elaborates on methodological issues of current tendencies in neoclassical theory and demonstrates the necessity of an alternative model of science, which he calls "realist". According to this perspective, constant and regular conjunctions of economic life events should not be the main object of analysis. Rather, the author proposes to consider structures and mechanisms governing events in question. Instead of deductivism, which, as Lawson believes, is a fundamental feature of orthodox economics, the abductive method of economic explanation is proposed that entails investigation of major powers, on which any social phenomenon depends. Society is thereby regarded not as a closed, but rather as an open system.

Gift Exchange as Narrative and Metaphor

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 229-252
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Gift Exchange ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Economic Anthropology ◽  
Karl Polanyi ◽  
Commodity Exchange ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Characteristic Features

The article deals with characteristic features of economic anthropology"s rhetoric of reciprocity and analyzes the factors that affected its formation. The authors consider two principal interpretations of reciprocity in economic anthropology that were formed under the influence of its two main founders - Malinowski and Mauss. The characteristic features of their two types of rhetoric are discussed together with the purposes for which they were used. Two different intentions were pivotal for the work of these researchers and their followers: first, to establish economic anthropology as a positivistic science; and second, to use the analysis of archaic societies as evidence for their critique of a capitalistic economy.To achieve the first task they actively used rhetoric borrowed from the natural sciences, and especially from biology as well as from economic theories that were another social science also striving for a more rigorous positivism. For the second task they turned to the rhetoric of political economy and used arguments based on a dialectical opposition between commodity exchange and gift exchange. The most prominent example of such dialectical rhetoric is in the works of Chris Gregory and Karl Polanyi in which gift exchange was interpreted as a metaphor for a utopian alternative to capitalistic commodity exchange. Because the rhetoric of economic anthropology from its inception to the present has been profoundly influenced by the language of general economic theory, the article examines the genesis of the rhetoric of economics as a science. This leads to an analysis of how the language of economics was affected by the rhetoric of the natural sciences, then of psychology and finally of law.

scholarly journals Islamic Economics and the Relevance of Al-Qawā‘id Al-Fiqhiyyah

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daud A. Mustafa ◽  
Hashir A. Abdulsalam ◽  
Jibrail B. Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Economic Life ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Islamic Economic ◽  
Economic Thinking

Islamic economics, as part of the Islamic body of knowledge, has emerged as a new social science discipline that has gained currency and recognition in various institutions of higher learning in the contemporary Muslim world. Different sources of Islamic knowledge have significantly contributed to shape its evolution and development. The Islamic legal maxims, however, do not seem to have received much attention in terms of their contextualization in the present economic thinking. Using the content analysis approach, this article examines the relevance of qawā‘id al-fiqhiyyah, placing emphasis on the five normative maxims and some of their variants, to the understanding of Islamic economics. The aim is to assess their relevance to Islamic economic life and their contextualization within time and space. It was found that qawā‘id al-fiqhiyyah significantly contributes to the understanding of Islamic economics as a discipline in the Islamic tertiary educational pursuits. They help to understand certain economic theories from the Islamic ethical perspective. Therefore, it is concluded that if Muslim social scientists, especially, Muslim economists, embrace and pursue this branch of fiqh with an utmost concern and commitment, it would facilitate a better appreciation of economic theories from the Islamic perspective.

scholarly journals Persisting inequality: A case of probabilistic drive towards divergence

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Maialeh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Economic Disparities ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Over Time

The aim of the study is to prove that agents organised by market forces tend to create and even more so deepen economic disparities over time. Empirical studies do not reliably describe the trend and causes of interpersonal global inequality in recent decades. Hence, the attention is turned to general economic theory with inspiration from Schumpeterian and neoclassical theories. The results indicate that pure market economy logic will tend to lead to multi-level divergence.

scholarly journals Temperature influence on creep of reinforced concrete

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmilson Lira Madureira ◽  
Brenda Vieira Costa Fontes
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Moisture Content ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Sustained Load ◽  
Structural Members ◽  
Temperature Influence ◽  
Stress Increase ◽  
Concrete Members ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Creep Strains

abstract: The creep of concrete promotes strains over time in structural members kept under sustained load. It causes the stress decrease on the concrete and the steel stress increase in reinforced concrete members. The moisture content and temperature influence significantly such phenomenon. The creep strains model of the NBR 6118/2014 [1] is, applicable, solely, to those cases of constant stress magnitudes. Reinforced concrete members exhibit variations on the stress magnitudes and, in this way, requires the use of an alternative model for the prediction of the creep strains as the so known the State Model. This report refers itself to temperature influence analysis upon creep strains of reinforced concrete structural members. The results have revealed that temperature speeds up the creep effects and, in this way, the steel yielding caused by the stress increase on the reinforcement bars occurs at earlier ages.

The destruction of Hazor: Israelite history and the construction of history in Israel

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-278
Author(s):  
Brendon C Benz
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Model ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Amarna Letters ◽  
Over Time

The present study presents an alternative model of pre-monarchic Israel’s political organization in tandem with an investigation into the role of place in the preservation of memory that explains how and why the tradition of Hazor’s demise was included in the Bible. Corresponding to the type of decentralized political organization attested in the Amarna letters, the core narratives in Judges depict Israel as a confederation of independent entities whose concerns revolved around local affairs. As the identity of Israel evolved over time, the memories of the most significant of these affairs were retained, often with the aid of material remains in the familiar landscape. The apparent injunction against building over Hazor’s 13th century palace ruins during Israel’s subsequent occupation and the inclusion of Hazor’s destruction from competing perspectives in the Bible suggest that it was an important event in Israel’s history, even if the entirety of Israel was not involved.

Life is not chess: Towards a dynamic theory on altruism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1354067X2095755
Author(s):  
Zarak Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Dynamic Theory ◽  
Grounded Cognition ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Economic View

Economic theory propagates a model of the human being commonly known as homoeconomicus; an individual with a rational orientation directed towards maximizing his/her preferences. However, our everyday lives involve many altruistic acts. These can range from small gestures of kindness such as holding a door open for another person, to heroic feats such as risking one's life to save a child from drowning. During our lives we also meet certain people that instantly induce our kindness. Our nicety in these moments is not based on a pursuit to optimize our material desires. Rather, we allow our feelings and intuitions to guide the course of our actions. How do we reconcile these experiences against the economic conception of human nature as inherently selfish? Addressing this contradiction, the paper will deconstruct the economic view and repositioning it as the product of an epistemological stance that distorts our view of altruism. An alternative model on altruism will then be developed by merging anthropological theories on value with insights from cultural psychology and grounded cognition. Through this process, a passage will be shown from static and universalizing perspective towards an emergent and dynamic theory on altruism.

scholarly journals The current relevance of Rosa Luxemburg's thought

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Estrella Trincado
Keyword(s):  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Open Society ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Classical Economics ◽  
Political Conception ◽  
New Type ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Rosa Luxemburg

This article insists upon the current relevance of Rosa Luxemburg's thought. Luxemburg had a sensibility ahead of her time and, faithful to her dreams of revolutionary change, she searched for an open society. This leftist revolutionary did not believe in the contingency of individual freedom. Instead, she argued for movement and development over time as a perpetual objective of the globalized masses. Luxemburg sought a new type of socialism and even a new way of thinking. The basic idea of her political conception was the opening of the revolutionary horizon, a willingness to learn new things. Thus, she learned from classical economics and, at the same time, she was able to criticize them. Luxemburg anticipated many current economic theories that enable us to understand the contemporary crisis. Finally, some conclusions are drawn, taking stock of Luxemburg's theories and life. Cet article reconnait la pertinence et l’actualité de la pensée de Rosa Luxemburg. Luxemburg avait une sensibilité en avance sur son temps et, fidèle à ses rêves de transformation révolutionnaire, elle cherchait une société ouverte. Cette révolutionnaire de gauche n’a pas cru à la contingence de la liberté individuelle et a suggéré que le mouvement et le développement dans le temps étaient un objectif permanent des masses mondialisées. Luxemburg cherchait un nouveau socialisme et même une nouvelle manière de penser. L’idée de base de sa conception politique était l’ouverture de l’horizon révolutionnaire et une volonté d’apprendre de nouvelles choses. Ainsi, elle a appris de l’économie classique tout en montrant en même temps sa capacité à les critiquer. Luxemburg a anticipé plusieurs théories économiques d’aujourd’hui qui nous permettent de comprendre la crise actuelle. En fin, quelques conclusions sont tirées, faisant le point des théories et de la vie de Luxemburg.

scholarly journals The Indirect-Utility Criterion for Ranking Opportunity Sets over Time

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
María García-Sanz ◽  
José Alcantud
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Indirect Utility ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Opportunity Sets ◽  
Period Model ◽  
Over Time

A preference defined on a set of alternatives can be extended to a preference on the subsets of alternatives (named opportunity sets) in different ways. We specifically consider the application of the indirect-utility (IU) criterion in various stages, when both the alternatives and the preferences can change over time. In other words, we maintain the symmetry over time as far as criteria are concerned, but neither in the preferences, nor in the alternatives. We characterize this criterion by three testable axioms. Our study bears comparison with Krause (Economic Theory, 2008) for the two-period model.

The Role of Religious Ideas and the Use of Models in Max Weber's Comparative Studies of Non-Capitalist Societies

1970 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Stephen Warner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Classical Economic ◽  
Use Of Models ◽  
Significant Question

The theme of this conference, “The Organizational Forms of Economic Life and Their Evolution,” implies a concern for specifying the limits of the applicability of classical and neo-classical economic theory. Presumably because we sociologists have been in the forefront of those who insist on the recognition of these limits, I have been asked to present a paper from the viewpoint of historical sociology. Now I suppose that your field and mine are alike in at least one respect: the infrequency of finding any one view on a broad and significant question. I am sure you will understand, therefore, my concentration on some lessons to be learned from the work of one of the heroes of my discipline, Max Weber (1864–1920). Weber, as you may know, was, among his other titles, a professor of economics and avoided the epithet of “sociologist.” Yet because sociology has changed since his day, largely under his influence, and because he was also a professor of law and of political science, we sociologists have now claimed him. Nevertheless, many of the issues that informed his massive scholarly research were and are issues central to both your field and mine.

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