Comment on Harry's Discussion of Ceramic Specialization and Agricultural Marginality in the Prehistoric U.S. Southwest

2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-398
Author(s):  
David A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Alternative Model

Karen Harry's study indicates that agricultural marginality is an unlikely explanation for ceramic specialization in the prehistoric U.S. Southwest. Economic theory provides an alternative model for the exchange of pottery for food.

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.

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.

Progress through Protest

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Burgum
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Organisation ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The Face ◽  
Society Today

This chapter demonstrates how neoliberalism — a school of political and economic theory which argues that market competition, supported by the state, is the best way to organise the economy, government, and society — has become so taken for granted that it is no longer perceived as an alternative model, but instead as something closer to ‘common sense’. While many may intuit that society today is in some way ‘sick’, it may also be the case that most people are additionally unable to even imagine healthier forms of social organisation. The chapter aims to find the root causes of how such a market led social model has actually been maintained in the face of an economic crash, and how widespread protest against the system has failed to generate any kind of deep social change.

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.

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