scholarly journals Thorstein Veblen on economic man: toward a new method of describing human nature, society, and history

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriko Ishida
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Traditional Theory ◽  
Characteristic Method ◽  
Classical Concept ◽  
Qualitative Aspect ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Economic Man ◽  
Logical Connection ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

AbstractThe fact that Veblen was a keen critic of the neo-classical concept of “economic man” is well known. However, the following issues have not been discussed in enough depth: how he rebuilt the traditional theory of human nature through his new methodology of economics, how much his methodological revision broadened the scope of economics, and what kind of phenomena Veblen’s economic theory elucidates. This article examines these issues and aims to show the logical connection between Veblen’s controversial proposal on the methodology of economics and his analysis of economic phenomena. Specifically, it reconsiders Veblen’s analysis of economic action using a unique concept of instincts, his logic of explaining the relation between society and human nature, his way of drawing history from the relativistic worldview, and his characteristic method of grasping the cause and effect of economic phenomena. Finally, it highlights the importance of modifying the concept of “economic man” by focusing on the qualitative aspect. Particular reference is made to the economic concepts of utility, efficiency, and intangibility.

Religion and Economic Action. Kurt Samuelsson , E. Geoffry French , D. C. Coleman

1962 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth E. Boulding
Keyword(s):  
Economic Action

An Interpretation of Max Weber's Theory of Law: Metaphysics, Economics, and the Iron Cage of Constitutional Law

1991 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 205-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Iron Cage ◽  
Weberian Theory ◽  
Substantive Rationality ◽  
Formal Rationality ◽  
Theory Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Jurisprudence

Among legal scholars, Anthony T. Kronman and David M. Trubek have provided the leading interpretations of Weber's theory of law. Kronman and Trubek agree on two important points: Weber's theory is fundamentally contradictory, and Weber's theory relates primarily to private law subjects such as contracts. This article contests both of these points. Building on a foundation of Weber's neo-Kantian metaphysics and his sociological categories of economic action, this article shows that Weber's theory of law is not fundamentally inconsistent; rather it explores the inconsistencies that are inherent within Western society itself, including its legal systems. Furthermore, Weber's insights can be applied to modern constitutional jurisprudence. Weberian theory reveals that modern constitutional law is riddled with irreconcilable tensions between process and substance—between formal and substantive rationality. In the context of racial discrimination cases involving equal protection and the Fifteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court's acceptance of John Hart Ely's theory of representation-reinforcement demonstrates the Court's resolute pursuit of formal rationality, which insures that the substantive values and needs of minorities will remain unsatisfied.

scholarly journals THE STEAM PLATFORM ECONOMY: CAPITALISING FROM PLAYER-DRIVEN ECONOMIES ON THE INTERNET.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Mette Thorhauge
Keyword(s):  
Third Party ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Attention Economy ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
Game Platform

With this paper I aim to analyse and discuss the Steam game platform in a platform economic perspective. I will argue that Steam represents a special type of platform economy due to its roots in gaming economies: Steam’s platform economy can be seen as a specific way of capitalising on the player-driven economies that arise within and beyond key game titles offered on the platform. The API offered to third party developers on Steams websites can be described as a ‘palette of monetization strategies’ that run from simple retail models in the game store, over various ways of integrating user generated content in the Steam Workshop to the prospects of harnessing and capitalising from players’ economic action in the Community market. A look some of the most-played games titles shows that this gives rise to a variety of diverse monetization strategies. Many of those monetization strategies move beyond advertising and the attention economy, making players trades another potential source of income. In all cases, of course, Steam gets its share.

scholarly journals Cultural Perspectives of Financial and Non-Financial Incentives

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Kyriaki Kafka ◽  
Anna Maria Kanzola ◽  
Panagiotis E. Petrakis
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Explanatory Framework ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Cultural Perspectives

The present paper delineates an explanatory framework for the defining factors of incentives, both financial and nonfinancial, through the theory of human economic action and that of personality traits, which shape human goals and, ultimately, social identity. It is ascertained that three types of variables affect incentives: basic conditions (cultural change, etc.), basic values and needs (tradition, external values, etc.) and the dynamism of social identity, which includes the goals that are set. More specifically, the two basic variables that shape the incentives for human action and imbue dynamism in behavior relate to megalothymia—i.e., the need for acknowledgement of a person’s integrity along with the predisposition to be thought superior to others as well as the aspiration to a certain level of quality in life.

Commodities in Action: Measuring Embeddedness and Imposing Values

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Koponen
Keyword(s):  
Social Values ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Politics Of Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Close Observation ◽  
Actor Networks ◽  
Market Relations

Recent approaches in political economy look at the effects of technology and social values on economic action. Combining these approaches with those of economic anthropologists, this article poses that the way the economy is instituted can be understood by looking at reasons actors have for participating in actor-networks of production, distribution and consumption. Using the author's research on American recycling, this article first shows that much of the ‘making’ or instituting of the economy happens outside the market, through political machinations, contracts and standards. Second, it suggests that these relationships impose value upon goods differently than do market relations. The details of the recycling ‘chain’ show the ways actors shape the network and demonstrate that the social values that add ‘economic value’ to goods are not uniform, but are highly contextual. Starting from Mark Granovetter's notion of ‘social embeddedness', the article explains that the measure of social embeddedness is not as important as the values imposed upon other actors through social structure in the economy. It calls for a close observation of economic action in the locales within which production takes place to understand better the ‘actions-at-a-distance’ where the politics of technology, social movements and power create the empirical, instituted economy.

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