Mittwoch, 18. Januar 2012

Economics and Prejudices

Following the sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer, economistic attitudes are attended by negative stereotypes about social fringe groups. As a result they cause the Economisation and De-Solidarisation of the Society. Therefore, economists have a good reason to be worried about such findings because the complained economistic attitudes are exactly what every textbook of economics is teaching us.

From this perspective, it raises some important questions: Is the economic science a misanthrophic science? Does economics base on negative stereotypes such as described by Loïc Wacquant in “Punir les Pauvres” (Punishing the Poor)? What does the history of economic thoughts tell us about the relation of stereotypes and economic arguments? What are the ethical proplems in detail? Which approaches exist to solve such problems?

Literature: Thieme,  Sebastian (2013): Economics and misanthropy. In: Int. J. Management Concepts and Philosophy, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.83–102.