Behavioural Economics as a Style of Reasoning: On the Rise of Psychological and Social Perspectives in Academic Economics

TLDR: In this article, the authors present and analyse an in-depth interview study of behavioural economists at Swedish universities, using a theoretical framework derived from the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu and the styles of reasoning approach.

Abstract: Though there are numerous studies attempting to describe and analyse the internal dynamics of academic economics, the results of these studies are often contradictory. In order to assess the potential usefulness of certain theoretical tools to the sociology of economics, this study presents and analyses an in-depth interview study of behavioural economists at Swedish universities. The theoretical framework under assessment is derived from the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu and the styles of reasoning approach. Utilizing the concept of styles of scientific reasoning, field theory, capital theory, and the notion of scientific habitus to analyse the rise of behavioural economics into the mainstream of the economics discipline, this study concludes that the theoretical framework provides tools that are very useful in the analysis of social phenomena in academic economics.