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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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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate whether researchers in different fields prefer the same criteria to evaluate candidates for academic positions across five European countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK.
Abstract: Studies on academic recruitment processes have demonstrated that universities evaluate candidates for research positions using multiple criteria. However, most studies on preferences regarding evaluative criteria in recruitment processes focus on a single country, while cross-country studies are rare. Additionally, though studies have documented how fields evaluate candidates differently, those differences have not been deeply explored, thus creating a need for further inquiry. This paper aims to address this gap and investigates whether academics in two fields across five European countries prefer the same criteria to evaluate candidates for academic positions. The analysis is based on recent survey data drawn from academics in economics and physics in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. Our results show that the academic fields have different evaluative cultures and that researchers from different fields prefer specific criteria when assessing candidates. We also found that these field-specific preferences were to some extent mediated through national frameworks such as funding systems.

13 citations


Cites background or result from "Disciplined reasoning: Styles of re..."

  • ...Some studies only cover one field (Hamann 2019; Hylmö 2018), while others only distinguish between social and natural science and neglect to disentangle specific disciplinary differences (e.g., Herschberg et al....

    [...]

  • ...…on hiring processes have hitherto focused on a single country, and comparative studies are lacking; therefore, the question of whether fields apply similar or different evaluative criteria when evaluating candidates for academic positions has gone unanswered (e.g., Hylmö 2018; Levander et al....

    [...]

  • ...…special status in the social sciences; recruiters place considerable value on candidates’ publications in top journals, and there is a high level of internal consensus on mainstream or neoclassical economics, which is sustained by a highly international knowledge community (Hylmö 2018; Lee et  al....

    [...]

  • ...Furthermore, such indicators seem to be primarily preferred in fields such as 1 3 economics, which is often characterized as exhibiting a rather deviant and extreme behavior compared with other disciplines (Hammarfelt and Rushforth 2017; Hylmö 2018)....

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  • ...These results aligned with prior studies on academic recruitment processes, which have shown that economists emphasize publications in top journals (Hylmö 2018)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
13 May 2021-Minerva
TL;DR: This paper explores how junior scholars use appraisal devices to navigate uncertainty about how their work will be evaluated by gatekeepers, and provides a conceptual understanding of how scholars cope with uncertainties about their future.
Abstract: There is a lack of objective evaluative standards for academic work. While this has been recognized in studies of how gatekeepers pass judgment on the works of others, little is known about how scholars deal with the uncertainty about how their work will be evaluated by gatekeepers. Building upon 35 interviews with early career academics in political science and history, this paper explores how junior scholars use appraisal devices to navigate this kind of uncertainty. Appraisal devices offer trusted and knowledgeable appraisals through which scholars are informed whether their work and they themselves are good enough to succeed in academia. Investigating how early career academics rely upon appraisals from assessors (i.e., ‘academic mentors’), the study adds to existing literature on uncertainty and worth in academic life by drawing attention to how scholars’ anticipatory practices are informed by trusting the judgment of others. The empirical analysis demonstrates that early career academics are confronted with multiple and conflicting appraisals that they must interpret and differentiate between. However, the institutional conditions for dealing with uncertainty about what counts in future evaluations, as well as which individuals generally come to function as assessors, differ between political science and history. This has an impact on both valuation practices and socialization structures. Focusing on what I call practices of appraisal devices, the paper provides a conceptual understanding of how scholars cope with uncertainties about their future. Furthermore, it expands existing theory by demonstrating how scholars’ self-concept and desired identities are key to the reflexive ways appraisal devices are used in the course of action.

12 citations


Cites background from "Disciplined reasoning: Styles of re..."

  • ...Accordingly, several studies have analyzed how judgment devices are used when making evaluative decisions in academic hiring processes (see e.g., Hammarfelt and Rushforth 2017; Hylmö 2018; Musselin 2010)....

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Dissertation
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, moral argumentation and meaning creation in the process of programmatic policy formulation in the Christian People's Party and Socialist people's Party in Denmark, and the Christian Democratic Party and Left Party in Sweden, focusing specifically on their policy deliberations about the European Community and the European Union from 1990-1996.
Abstract: This thesis analyzes moral argumentation and meaning creation in the process of programmatic policy formulation in the Christian People's Party and Socialist People's Party in Denmark, and the Christian Democratic Party and Left Party in Sweden, focusing specifically on their policy deliberations about the European Community and the European Union from 1990-1996. The primary emphasis is not on policy outcomes per se, but rather on how moral argumentation as a form of policy deliberation is created and sustained in political parties. Contrary to contentions from two traditions skeptical towards the centrality of moral argumentation in the formulation of party policy, the "economistic"/rational choice, respective basic value relativism traditions, it is found that policy deliberation is carried out primarily in terms of substantive moral arguments rather than utility maximization, aggregating or mere procedural agreement. Similar mechanisms in each of the four parties studied create settings in which moral argumentation is carried out and sustained. In party settings moral argumentation is facilitated by the "objectification" of the normative - via the group process of evaluating and ranking current normative contentions in terms of previously evaluated and ranked normative contentions. In this way moral contentions are given varying degrees of support from a common legitimating authority - the party - and a series of collectively affirmed positions and "traditions" exist to refer to. Surreptitiously, through moral argumentation the meaning of the objects of political deliberation is created by the way they are related to central values and goals of the party. It is subsequently through reference to these socially established meanings that policy debates are carried out. Ultimately it is concluded that the norm of moral argumentation is founded upon the belief among party members, and actual operation, of these parties as moral communities. (Less)

11 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: This study shows that day treatment was important for the patients and what the personnel believed to be unique and specific about their work in order to demarcate and establish this new form of care is investigated.
Abstract: In the past few decades a comprehensive restructuring of psychiatric care has taken place in Sweden. The activities of the traditional closed institutions have been curtailed through a drastic reduction in the number of beds available in such institutions. "Day treatment," has arisen as a new form of intensive outpatient care in the new, geographically localized psychiatric care of patients with long histories of mental illness. The day treatment center that I studied was intended to be a permanent unit, but it lasted only five years. The dissertation is based on interviews and first hand observations from this day treatment facility. I have interviewed 32 patients, often more than once. The staff members - psychologists, psychiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, doctors, counsellors and psychiatric nurses - were interviewed twice each. The purpose of the study is to investigate the patients' views of illness and health, treatment, rehabilitation, and relations between the patients themselves and patients and staff, in light of how these are affected by the new day treatment form of care. I also investigated what the personnel believed to be unique and specific about their work in order to demarcate and establish this new form of care. Interpretations of the patients' and personnel's responses are made against the background of the social processes and social contexts in which they participate. The study finds that the patients see themselves as both healthy and ill. The patients describe their own activity, their own initiatives, as important in being healthy, and that the people around them must respond positively to these initiatives and activities. The patients develop various coping strategies in other everyday relations to deal with their problems and treatment. Frequently this means partially of entirely hiding one's illness and treatment. The patients find "that extra" or " exceptions" from ordained routines in their treatment to be especially positive and health promoting. Relationships with the staff are also emphasized as of the utmost importance in the treatment process. The patients evaluate the various curative effects of therapy as changes, patterns and discoveries. According to the personnel, what hallmarks the activities of the unit is the way care is planned, basing activity on what is healthy, utilizing all available resources, and developing special relationships with the patients. What was unique about the center was that it could offer a variety of treatment and rehabilitation methods. Day treatment was a novel and untried alternative when the center opened. This study shows that day treatment was important for the patients. An important question is thus, what role does the lack of stability and longevity play when new forms of care are established? There are a variety of effective treatment and rehabilitation methods that can improve the situation of the mentally ill in society. The real challenge now is in delivering these alternatives to patients in an accessible, consistent, and reliable manner.

10 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