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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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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: To study the operational behaviour of λ-terms, this work will use the denotational (mathematical) approach to choose a space of semantics values, or denotations, where terms are to be interpreted.
Abstract: To study the operational behaviour of λ-terms, we will use the denotational (mathematical) approach. A denotational semantics for a language is based on the choice of a space of semantics values, or denotations, where terms are to be interpreted. Choosing a space with nice mathematical properties can help in proving the semantic properties of terms, since to this aim standard mathematical techniques can be used.

880 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

331 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Information is provided on how to identify the wood of several species common to the Northern Hemisphere using a hand-magnifying lens, as well as some techniques used in the study of Japan.
Abstract: Section (CRN) Meets in: Instructor: Office Ofc Hrs. STSH1110-01(60478) Carnegie 102 Jeanette Simmonds (simmoj@rpi.edu) Sage 5706 TBA STSS1110-01 (60138) Carnegie 205 Selma Sabanovic (sabans@rpi.edu) Sage 5703 Tue 4-5p IHSS1963-01 (62348) Sage 2701 Atsushi Akera (akeraa@rpi.edu) (see above) IHSS1963-02 (62349) DCC 236 Meredith Wells (wellsm@rpi.edu) TBA TBA IHSS1963-03 (62350) Sage 4203 Camar Diaz (diaztc@rpi.edu) Sage 5710 Tue./Fri. 4-5p IHSS1963-04 (62351) Carnegie 208 Lorna Ronald (ronall@rpi.edu) Sage 5706 TBA IHSS1963-05 (62352) Sage 2112 Jeffrey Hannigan (hannij@rpi.edu) Sage 5202 TBA *office hours also by appointment.

225 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The handbook of science and technology studies is universally compatible with any devices to read and is available in the authors' digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you for reading handbook of science and technology studies. As you may know, people have look numerous times for their chosen books like this handbook of science and technology studies, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious virus inside their desktop computer. handbook of science and technology studies is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the handbook of science and technology studies is universally compatible with any devices to read.

166 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Style of Scientific Thinking & Doing (Styles of Scientific thinking & doing) project as mentioned in this paper is a collection of six fundamentally distinct ways of finding out about, and altering, the world.

105 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article propose a framework for interested pluralism as a guideline for organizing heterodox economic research, in particular, as well as economic debates, in general, which replaces the traditionally invoked demarcation criteria between different economic traditions by a set of rather ecumenical pluralist principles, whose concrete implications for economic research are discussed.
Abstract: Pluralism is a key term in the current discourse in heterodox economics, emphasizing the need for greater theoretical integration and institutional cooperation of different economic traditions. However, both the nature of pluralism and the concrete role ascribed to pluralist thinking for the development of economics have been somewhat contested, pointing to a lack of (widely agreed) conceptual foundations. This paper addresses this conceptual gap by proposing a framework for interested pluralism as a guideline for organizing heterodox economic research, in particular, as well as economic debates, in general. In essence, interested pluralism suggests replacing the traditionally invoked demarcation criteria between different economic traditions by a set of rather ecumenical pluralist principles, whose concrete implications for economic research we discuss.

102 citations


"Disciplined reasoning: Styles of re..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Mearman, Andrew....

    [...]

  • ...But many would agree that the discipline is comparatively homogenous, that it is unified by a rather tight set of shared beliefs and practices, and that this common understanding is both very much 11 For some examples of recent discussions of pluralism, see the work by Dobusch and Kapeller, Garnett, and Mearman (Dobusch and Kapeller 2012; Garnett 2011; Mearman 2011)....

    [...]

  • ...Adding to suggestions by heterodox economists to create alternative rankings for heterodox journals (Lee et al. 2010), or strategic contributions to tighter heterodox citation networks (Dobusch and Kapeller 2012), I think that sociological studies of such systems are of great importance....

    [...]

  • ...…that it is unified by a rather tight set of shared beliefs and practices, and that this common understanding is both very much 11 For some examples of recent discussions of pluralism, see the work by Dobusch and Kapeller, Garnett, and Mearman (Dobusch and Kapeller 2012; Garnett 2011; Mearman 2011)....

    [...]

  • ...More recent work in this vein discusses pluralism as a concept and strategy in relation to heterodox economics, where Dobusch and Kapeller (2012) for example make a distinction between three varieties of pluralism, drawing on what they call 105 a post-Kuhnian view of paradigms....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors amplify the conceptual clarification and methodological stipulation of habitus begun in 'Homines in extremis' to help us move from a sociology of the body as a socia...
Abstract: In this response to my critics, I amplify the conceptual clarification and methodological stipulation of habitus begun in ‘Homines in extremis’ to help us move from a sociology of the body as socia...

99 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: It is argued that the prevalent discrepancy between the discourses - the discussion among Swedish Somalis and the public discussion in Sweden - is an obstacle in the process toward a complete abandonment of the practice of female circumcision in the Somali community in Sweden.
Abstract: 'Created by God' presents the views of Swedish Somalis on female circumcision and contrasts it to the Swedish public discourse on the issue. Despite the lack of documented illegal cases of female circumcision in Sweden, it is constantly claimed in the public discourse that female circumcision (female genital mutilation) is a practice upheld by the Somali exile group in Sweden. Based on an analysis of the internal debate on female circumcision among Swedish Somalis, it is argued that this is a practice negotiated and reassessed by Somalis in Sweden. While some traditional values are maintained, even when in conflict with mainstream mentality of the Swedish society, other values and attitudes are debated and abandoned. Among the Somalis in this study, reassessment of the religious imperative in relation to female circumcision has played a crucial role. The study highlights the importance of a processual theory of cultural practices, in contrast to the prevalent essentialist perspective. It is further argued that the prevalent discrepancy between the discourses - the discussion among Swedish Somalis and the public discussion in Sweden - is an obstacle in the process toward a complete abandonment of the practice of female circumcision in the Somali community in Sweden.

97 citations

Journal Article

96 citations