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Dissertation

Disciplined reasoning: Styles of reasoning and the mainstream-heterodoxy divide in Swedish economics

01 Sep 2018-
TL;DR: The authors argue that the mainstream-heterodoxy divide is fruitfully understood in terms of the institutionalised stabilisation of a disciplinary style of reasoning, and show how economists understand their scientific approach and its merits.
Abstract: Economics is one of the most influential social science disciplines, with a high level of internal consent around a common theoretical and methodological approach to economic analysis. However, marginalised schools of thought have increasingly unified under the term “heterodox” economics, with their critical stance towards the “neoclassical mainstream” as common denominator. This has spawned debates among scholars about how to understand the nature of the mainstream-heterodoxy divide in economics.This thesis sets out to explain how such a common approach to science is generalised and stabilised in modern economics, and how this process is related to heterodoxy. Grounded in the sociology of science, it aims first to provide an empirical account of the mainstream-heterodoxy dynamics in Swedish economics, and second, to contribute to theory development. Drawing on the literature on distinct styles of reasoning in the history of science, I develop a theoretical framework of relational disciplinary styles of reasoning, which is used to analyse two bodies of empirical material from Swedish economics. The first is an in-depth interview study with researchers in economics, and the second is a document study of expert evaluation reports from the hiring of professors of economics at four of the top Swedish universities during 25 years. Through the two empirical studies, the fine-grained qualitative material provides an insight into the ways economists understand their discipline and the character of proper knowledge production.I argue that the mainstream-heterodoxy divide is fruitfully understood in terms of the institutionalised stabilisation of a disciplinary style of reasoning, and show how economists understand their scientific approach and its merits. The maintenance of the style of reasoning is the achievement of the thought collective of economists, where boundaries are constructed in relation to contesting heterodox economics and to other scientific disciplines. I show how the disciplinary style with its conception of good science and the notion of a core of the discipline is linked to the reproduction of disciplinary boundaries. I trace how this plays out through shifting quality evaluation practices, and show how top journal rankings have become a powerful judgement device which links the hierarchical ranking of top journals to the notion of a disciplinary core, and effectively functions as a mechanism of disciplinary stabilisation. In conclusion, I argue that these processes form a self-stabilising system in which the disciplinary style of reasoning and its boundaries is reproduced, with potential implications for how we understand intellectual dynamics and pluralism. (Less)

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Citations
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Dissertation
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the societal changes in Sandinista Nicaragua by way of placing the revolution in a historic, political, and social context, and highlight the historical continuity that lies in the structure of the social changes promoted by the political movement.
Abstract: The theme throughout this book is the buildning up of a new societal structure and the conflicts encompassed in such a project. I discuss the societal changes in Sandinista Nicaragua by way of placing the revolution in a historic, political, and social context. Throughout the work process it became increasingly clear that the conflicts of the FSLN were in principal due to two factors. First, the FSLN leadership made an effort to create a new social order for the country and did not take into consideration the various local development strategies and structures. Second, this was to be achieved by investing in modern forms of production and, in a special organization in which the government would have the leading role.The book is about a conflict ridden encounter between a future oriented project, a product of the political movement, and the historically constituted everyday life world of ordinary people. At a certain point the developmentist ideology of the FSLN began to distance itself from the traditional visions of the future entertained by a significant part of the Nicaraguan people. I have tried to highlight the historical continuity that lies in the structure of the social changes promoted by the political movement. From a methodological point of view this study combines an analysis of tendencies at the national level with fieldresearch in a mining village in the northern part of the country. The fieldwork took place in connection with the development project "Sociala Komponenter" financed by SIDA. I view the development project as a social phenomenon in its own right and therefore the ethnographic material focuses on concrete social relationship in the project in its the local context. (Less)

5 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an inquiry into existing evidence, underlying assumptions, and the rapid diffusion of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America, concluding that CCTs' proven impact pertains exclusively to short-term effects whereas their alleged long-term capabilities lack empirical foundations.
Abstract: This dissertation presents an inquiry into existing evidence, underlying assumptions, and the rapid diffusion of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America. Equally concerned with empirical research on CCTs’ assumed capabilities and the programmes’ political economy and social policy contexts, this inquiry combines systematic analyses and case studies from field work in Uruguay and Guatemala. In essence, it inquires into what the programmes are in terms of social policy, how effective they have been in reducing poverty and enhancing human capital investments, which evidence exist to support long-term impacts and how plausible are their underlying assumptions, and why the programmes have risen to prominence in Latin American social policy development. The empirical case studies specifically analyse CCTs’ capabilities to enable a break in intergenerational transmission of poverty, to simultaneously pursue income maintenance and human capital investments through a hybrid design, and to minimise policy politicisation. The inquiries into existing evidence reveal that CCTs’ proven impact pertains exclusively to short-term effects whereas their alleged long-term capabilities lack empirical foundations. Such capabilities are further challenged since they turn out to rest on some rather dubious theoretical assumptions. Furthermore, this dissertation finds that CCTs’ diffusion throughout Latin America could be explained by a historical convergence between various domestic and foreign factors, enabled by particularly salient programme characteristics. (Less)

5 citations

01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: Manga manniskor upplever att de mar daligt av inomhusmiljon i sina bostader och pa sina arbetsplatser as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Manga manniskor upplever att de mar daligt av inomhusmiljon i sina bostader och pa sina arbetsplatser. Detta ar bakgrunden till att Formas under en sexarsperiod avsatt sammanlagt 180 miljoner kronor till forskning inom detta omrade. Projektet som den har rapporten bygger pa ar ett av manga som pa detta satt ingar i insatsomradet ”Det sunda huset” och har anlaggs ett vidare perspektiv pa denna typ av ohalsa. Avsikten ar att finna faktorer andra an rent fysiska som kan bidra till att forklara skillnader i boenderelaterad ohalsa mellan olika befolkningsgrupper och manniskor i olika typer av boenden.

5 citations

01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a rapport inom projektet presenteras 17-ariga flickors och pojkars intresse for motion och idrott.
Abstract: Vart ar idrotten pa vag? Det ar en vasentlig fraga i det sk Landskronaprojektet inom Idrottsvetenskapligt centrum vid Lunds universitet, ICLU. I denna forsta rapport inom projektet presenteras 17-ariga flickors och pojkars intresse for motion och idrott. Har kartlaggs till exempel hur stort intresset ar, vilka idrotter de sysslar med, deras foreningsengagemang och installning till amnet idrott och halsa i skolan, etc. Men vi far ocksa veta att flickor ar mer intresserade av att lasa vidare an pojkar, och att konsskillnader mellan flickors och pojkars idrottsutovande tycks minska medan de ar mycket patagliga vad galler datoranvandning. Ungdomar som ar fodda utomlands ar minst lika - om inte mer - intresserade av idrott som svenskfodda ungdomar. Idrottens sprak ar saledes internationellt och konsoverskridande. (Less)

5 citations

01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present empiriska exemplen i analysen ar tva svenska kommuner, Varberg och Vastervik, forstudie om socialt hallbar samhallsutveckling, och har som syfte att presentera ett satt att analysera perspektiv pa social hallbarhet samt att ge exempel pa hur detta perspectiv kan anvandas for att i nagra aspekter forsta hur samhallen utvecklas och
Abstract: Det talas ofta om att forsoka uppna en hallbar utveckling med utgangspunkt i ett naturvetenskapligt perspektiv. Samhallsvetenskapliga aspekter som tar upp de sociala, ekonomiska och samhallspolitiska perspektiven ar sallan forekommande. Nar man exempelvis vill uppna en hallbar utveckling i en stad eller kommun maste man ta hansyn till manga dimensioner, inte endast de ekologiska forhallandena utan aven forhallanden som befolkningens struktur och forandring over tid, ekonomiska system samt social, kulturell och polistisk organisering. Samtidigt som ekologisk och social hallbarhet star i nara relation till varandra, ar det viktigt att skilja dem at. Detta ar en forstudie om socialt hallbar samhallsutveckling, och har som syfte att presentera ett satt att analysera perspektiv pa social hallbarhet samt att ge exempel pa hur detta perspektiv kan anvandas for att i nagra aspekter forsta hur samhallen utvecklas och forandras i skilda riktningar. De empiriska exemplen i analysen ar tva svenska kommuner, Varberg och Vastervik. (Less)

5 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this article, a social critic of the judgement of taste is presented, and a "vulgar" critic of 'pure' criticiques is proposed to counter this critique.
Abstract: Preface to the English-Language Edition Introduction Part 1: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste 1. The Aristocracy of Culture Part 2: The Economy of Practices 2. The Social Space and its Transformations 3. The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles 4. The Dynamics of Fields Part 3: Class Tastes and Life-Styles 5. The Sense of Distinction 6. Cultural Good Will 7. The Choice of the Necessary 8. Culture and Politics Conclusion: Classes and Classifications Postscript: Towards a 'Vulgar' Critique of 'Pure' Critiques Appendices Notes Credits Index

23,806 citations

Book
01 Jan 1867
TL;DR: In the third volume of "Das Kapital" as discussed by the authors, Marx argues that any market economy is inevitably doomed to endure a series of worsening, explosive crises leading finally to complete collapse.
Abstract: Unfinished at the time of Marx's death in 1883 and first published with a preface by Frederick Engels in 1894, the third volume of "Das Kapital" strove to combine the theories and concepts of the two previous volumes in order to prove conclusively that capitalism is inherently unworkable as a permanent system for society. Here, Marx asserts controversially that - regardless of the efforts of individual capitalists, public authorities or even generous philanthropists - any market economy is inevitably doomed to endure a series of worsening, explosive crises leading finally to complete collapse. But he also offers an inspirational and compelling prediction: that the end of capitalism will culminate, ultimately, in the birth of a far greater form of society.

6,401 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a scientific and economic controversy about the causes for the decline in the population of scallops in St. Brieuc Bay and the attempts by three marine biologists to develop a conservation strategy for that population.
Abstract: This paper outlines a new approach to the study of power, that of the sociology of translation. Starting from three principles, those of agnosticism (impartiality between actors engaged in controversy), generalised symmetry (the commitment to explain conflicting viewpoints in the same terms) and free association (the abandonment of all a priori distinctions between the natural and the social), the paper describes a scientific and economic controversy about the causes for the decline in the population of scallops in St. Brieuc Bay and the attempts by three marine biologists to develop a conservation strategy for that population. Four ‘moments’ of translation are discerned in the attempts by these researchers to impose themselves and their definition of the situation on others: (a) problematisation: the researchers sought to become indispensable to other actors in the drama by denning the nature and the problems of the latter and then suggesting that these would be resolved if the actors negotiated the ‘obl...

5,884 citations