scholarly journals The Phenomenology of Homo Economicus

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
Galit Ailon
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Atomistic Model ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Market Society ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Interpretive Scheme

Much has been written about the fictitious nature of the atomistic model of homo economicus. Nevertheless, this economic model of self-interest and egoism has become conventional wisdom in market societies. This article offers a phenomenological explanation for the model’s commonsensical grip. Building on the work of Alfred Schutz, I argue that a reliance on homo economicus as an interpretive scheme for making sense of the behavior of economic Others has the effect of reversing the meaning of signs and doubts that challenge the model’s assumptions. Moreover, it orients social action in ways that prevent the model’s interpretive incongruences from rising to the reflective fore. Consequently, an interpretive reliance on homo economicus creates a “phenomenological gridlock.” Alternative sources of information and alternative interpretive schemes can bypass this entrapment of the economic interaction, but this article further explains why the norms and cultural horizons of market society limit the accessibility of these alternatives, thus, in effect, sedimenting gridlocked experiences.

MONITORING THE ATTITUDE OF THE POPULATION TO PROBLEMS OF URBAN ENVIRONMENT FOR SITUATION-AL CENTERS OF A SMART CITY

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-54
Author(s):  
D. Verzilin ◽  
T. Maximova ◽  
I. Sokolova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Operational Decision Making ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Intelligent Information ◽  
State Of The Environment ◽  
Active Citizen

Goal. The purpose of the study was to search for alternative sources of information on popu-lation’s preferences and response to problems and changes in the urban environment for use in the operational decision-making at situational centers. Materials and methods. The authors used data from search queries with keywords, data on communities in social networks, data from subject forums, and official statistics. Methods of statistical data analysis were applied. Results. The analysis of thematic online activity of the population was performed. The re-sults reflected the interest in the state of the environment, the possibility of distance learning and work, are presented. It was reasoned that measurements of population’s thematic online activity let identify needs and analyze the real-time response to changes in the urban envi-ronment. Such an approach to identifying the needs of the population can be used in addition to the platforms “Active Citizen” of the Smart City project. Conclusions. An analysis of data on online activity of the population for decision-making at situational centers is more operational, flexible and representative, as compared with the use of tools of those platforms. Such an analysis can be used as an alternative to sociological surveys, as it saves time and money. When making management decisions using intelligent information services, it is necessary to take into account the needs of the population, reflect-ed in its socio-economic activity in cyberspace.

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.

scholarly journals Alternative sources of data on the level of employment of Russian women in entrepreneurship

POPULATION ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 90-102
Author(s):  
Aysylu Ilimbetova
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Gender Differentiation ◽  
Women In Business ◽  
Structure Of Population ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Social Structuring

Development of the market economy and changes in the principles of social structuring of society lead to the fact that the concept of gender equality goes beyond the labor market and begins to spread to other spheres of public relations, for example, entrepreneurship. However, to obtain empirical data to understand the extent of participation of men and women in business, it is not sufficient to conduct surveys or censuses, because they do not specialize in such information and provide data only on forms of employment (for hire and not for hire). The article deals with the possibilities of using administrative sources of information (the Unified register of small and medium-sized businesses) and the SPARK information base to obtain gender statistics and assess gender equality on the example of women's entrepreneurship in Russia. The main advantage of these sources of information is the possibility of extracting data on the activities of Russian entrepreneurs, for which information is not provided by the statistical collections of Rosstat. Calculations of the author make it possible to establish existence in the Russian business of gender differentiation in entrepreneurship, formation of employment niches assigned to each sex that allows us to speak about the specific features of the Russian business. Thus, women are concentrated in micro- and small businesses; they are mainly engaged in the socially important services—health care and education, other individual services; they are prone to less risky and less innovative spheres, such as trade and services; there are similarities between the structure of entrepreneurship, employment as employees and the professional structure of population.

Cooperative Homo economicus

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Bowles ◽  
Herbert Gintis
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Repeated Games ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Folk Theorem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Correlated Equilibrium ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Game Theoretic

This chapter examines whether recent advances in the theory of repeated games, as exemplified by the so-called folk theorem and related models, address the shortcomings of the self-interest based models in explaining human cooperation. It first provides an overview of folk theorems and their account of evolutionary dynamics before discussing the folk theorem with either imperfect public information or private information. It then considers evolutionarily irrelevant equilibrium as well as the link between social norms and the notion of correlated equilibrium. While the insight that repeated interactions provide opportunities for cooperative individuals to discipline defectors is correct, the chapter argues that none of the game-theoretic models mentioned above is successful. Except under implausible conditions, the cooperative outcomes identified by these models are neither accessible nor persistent, and are thus labeled evolutionarily irrelevant Nash equilibria.

scholarly journals NETWORK DEPENDENCE OF STRONG RECIPROCITY

2004 ◽  
Vol 07 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 357-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. VILELA MENDES
Keyword(s):  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Intergroup Dynamics ◽  
Network Parameter ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Strong Reciprocity ◽  
Equilibrium Behavior ◽  
Altruistic Punishment ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Evolution Dynamics ◽  
Human Trait

Experimental evidence suggests that human decisions involve a mixture of self-interest and internalized social norms which cannot be accounted for by the Nash equilibrium behavior of Homo Economicus. This led to the notion of strong reciprocity (or altruistic punishment) to capture the human trait leading an individual to punish norm violators at a cost to himself. For a population with small autonomous groups with collective monitoring, the interplay of intra- and intergroup dynamics shows this to be an adaptive trait, although not fully invasive of a selfish population. However, the absence of collective monitoring in a larger society changes the evolution dynamics. Clustering seems to be the network parameter that controls maintenance and evolution of the reciprocator trait.

scholarly journals Manifestation of interest of the Russian youth for politicized content on the Internet: towards the holistic analytical model

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Dmitry Rudenkin ◽  
Dmitrii Valer'evich Trynov
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Model ◽  
Human Science ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Internet Behavior ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Analytical Practice

This article is written in the theoretical-methodological genre. The key goal lies in the revision and systematization of versatile analytical hypotheses proposed by social and human science in order to explain the interest of Russian youth in politicized information content on the Internet. It is noted that the current analytical practice faces a fundamental contradiction between the prevalence of reflections of the scholars on the significant role of the Internet in development of the political moods and attitudes of the Russian youth audience and the absence  the well-established scientific representation on the reasons why there is a need to search  for political information namely on the Internet. This article aims to clarify this contradiction. Theoretical-methodological analysis is conducted on the disparate ideas used by social and human science to explain and interpret the heighted interest of Russian youth in the online politicized content. Procedurally, the work leans on the analysis of relevant current scientific literature for the period from 2015 to 2020 dedicated to examination of the patterns of Internet behavior and political culture of modern Russian youth. The conclusion is made that there are several versions that explain the heightened interest of Russian youth in politicized information on the Internet, which logically correspond with each other, but are usually not being generalized. Having summarized these versions into a single analytical model, the authors indicate the key reason for the heightened interest of Russian youth in political information on the Internet is the low level of trust in the traditional media, which forces them to seek the alternative sources of information on topics of concern online.

scholarly journals Debate sobre el Homo Economicus. El caso de los funcionarios de casilla

2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (335) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Miroslava Barragán Robles ◽  
Roberto Escalante Semerena ◽  
Lilia Domínguez Villalobos
Keyword(s):  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Self Interest

Antecedentes: A partir de un caso empírico se estudia la decisión de las personas para participar voluntariamente como funcionarios de casilla el día de la jornada electoral en México. Al respecto, interesaba analizar si esa participación era motivada por un comportamiento prosocial, donde el ciudadano contribuía a la existencia de un bien público: la democracia. De ser el caso, se descartaría el comportamiento de Homo Economicus. Métodos: Ante la falta de información para hacer este estudio a nivel individual, se decidió hacerlo a nivel más agregado, a nivel municipal. Por medio de una regresión logística se exploró la probabilidad de que un municipio tuviera una alta tasa de aceptación para participar en la jornada electoral como funcionarios de casilla. Específicamente, se estudió en qué medida la variable dependiente se explica por variables asociadas a un comportamiento prosocial o a un comportamiento de Homo Economicus. Resultados: Los resultados muestran que, efectivamente, una parte de la participación es motivada por la responsabilidad ciudadana y el compromiso social, es decir, un comportamiento divergente del Homo Economicus. En tanto que la otra parte de la participación responde a incentivos no explícitos que estarían asociados al self-interest. Conclusiones: En este artículo se concluye que una parte de quienes aceptan la invitación para participar como funcionarios de casilla, lo hacen respondiendo a un comportamiento prosocial, pero para el resto no es posible descartar un comportamiento de Homo Economicus. Todo ello apunta a la necesidad de seguir trabajando para consolidar la calidad de la democracia mexicana.

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