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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7 citations
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a samband med en utvardering av de flexibla arbetstidsmodellerna uppdrogs at Sociologiska institutionen i Lund att konstruera en utvareringsmodell.
Abstract: Malmo stad antog 1997 en ny personalpolicy, P2006, vilken ar indelad i sju profilomraden. Ett av dessa profilomraden har som malsattning att utveckla flexibla arbetstidsmodeller som ska tillgodose verksamhetens, kundens och den anstalldes onskemal, samt skapa forutsattningar for alternativa karriarvagar for personalen. I samband med en utvardering av de flexibla arbetstidsmodellerna uppdrogs at Sociologiska institutionen i Lund att konstruera en utvarderingsmodell. Modellen ar uppbyggd som en processutvardering och bestar av tre frageformular samt tillhorande intervjufragor till varje formular. Arbetet med framtagandet av modellen har skett under en langre period och rapporten beskriver utvecklingen av frageformularen samt intervjufragorna. Likasa klargors varfor de teman och fragor som aterfinns i formular och intervjufragor ar de som ansetts relevanta i sammanhanget. (Less)
7 citations
Journal Article•
7 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this article, a collection of previously published or otherwise presented essays dealing with the philosophical, sociological and aesthetic writings of Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) is presented, which is intended to cover a common programmatic theme running through Adorno's writings.
Abstract: This dissertation consists of a collection of previously published or otherwise presented essays dealing with the philosophical, sociological and aesthetic writings of Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969). The title of the dissertation is intended to cover a common programmatic theme running through Adorno's writings.
Chapter one, ?Adorno and the Frankfurt school?, deals with the biography of Adorno and the history of the Institute of Social Research. Chapter two, ?The infernal repetition? presents an interpretation of the central thesis of The Dialectic of Enlightenment, ?myth is already enlightenment; and enlightenment reverts to mythology?. The idea of myth and enlightenment is traced back to the collaboration between Adorno and Walter Benjamin before the war. Horkheimer and Adorno do not demand a return to myth, such as several critics of civilisation and revolutionary conservatives. Chapter three, ?Ontology and dialectics?, presents Adorno's criticism of Martin Heidegger's basic concepts. Adorno's general objection concerns the concept of being. There is no logic in claiming that the question of being should be the most fundamental question. In reality, being in the earliest philosophy already presupposes a certain stage of generality and abstraction in thinking, i.e. it is already a stage of enlightenment. Being is a concept that poses as a non-concept. What is supposed to be genuine origin is not. In chapter four, ?The lament over reification?, a basic concept of Adorno's theory of modern capitalist society, reification, is discussed. Reification must, to be a critical concept be seperated from alienation. It is hard to imagine a modern complex society as entirely transparent and Adorno agrees that a free society can not avoid such reified practices as administration and division of labour. In chapter five, ?The banality of Evil and the authoritarian personality?, the empirical study conducted by Adorno in the USA is compared with Hannah Arendt's report on the trial against Adolf Eichmann. In the qualitative section of the study of the authoritarian personality Adorno develops a series of typologies or syndromes. Eichmann displays traces of both the conventional and the authoritarian syndrome and of the manipulative type. The last chapter, ??Teddie hates jazz??, discusses Adorno's theory of the culture industry. Adorno does not criticize ?low? culture from the perspective of ?high?. A lot of high culture, such as what is known as classical music, is just as much commodified and therefore a product of the culture industry. Adorno did recognize the legitimacy of revolt against conformist and pretentious high culture. However, it is doomed to fail because of its lack of autonomy. Autonomous art, according to Adorno, aspires to express truth and expresses the contradiction between art and society in aesthetic forms.
7 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the notion of multiculturalism in relation to theatre and drama, and explore how such projects are launched, carried through and realized on a concrete empirical level.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the notion of multiculturalism in relation to theatre and drama. In Swedish public discourse, culture and the arts are frequently referred to as a social glue which keeps society together. In this context theatre holds a particular position. On the one hand theatre is looked upon as a magic key capable of opening up all sorts of discriminatory structures. Theatre, and actors, stereotypically exhibit essential features for achieving success in late modern society. Examples of such features are charisma, creativity, and flexibility. On the other hand theatre, especially theatre as an established institution, is criticised for being discriminatory and conservative.
Theatre thus inhabits a position of ambivalence in relation to society at large. It is encouraged, even obliged, by the state to reach out to new audiences beyond that of Swedish-born, middle-class spectators. This is done in several ways; by creating mixed ensembles, with professionals and amateurs, or by producing scripts based on documentary research and “real” stories, told by “real” people. While the work produced within theatre should reflect society, artistic expressiveness is often surreal and fantastic. In this capacity theatre is ascribed an almost “magical” function in moving publics and dissolving unwanted boundaries.
The task is twofold. I start by trying to trace and describe systems of values and presuppositions underpinning multicultural theatre projects in Sweden. I then explore how such projects are launched, carried through and realized on a concrete empirical level. The observation was carried out primarily in 2006, in the setting of two theatre projects. One of them was a role play about refugees, A Journey Unlike any Other. The purpose of the project is to make teenagers understanding and sympathetic to the plights of refugees and immigrants. The other one was a version of the classical drama, Hamlet, transposed into a contemporary urban setting as Mohamlet. The play is an attempt to reach a new audience by placing it in a multicultural milieu; a falafel-restaurant reminiscent of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. These two productions are on opposit ends of the wide spectrum of late modern theatre dealing with multicultural topics.
Theatre is thus referred to, in one instance, as key, and in another as a closed door. It is at one and the same time portrayed as a solution and as a problem. My aim is to articulate, to illustrate, and to explain this duality and the processes in which it inheres, both within and beyond the confines of theatre performances and settings.
6 citations
References
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34,393 citations
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
Book•
01 Jan 2015
6,044 citations
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