Economism

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The term economism is primarily used scientifically, occasionally also politically. Depending on the area of ​​use, it means:

  • an overemphasis on economic factors in social development theories,
  • in methodology, the application of economic models to other areas of the social sciences,
  • a "comprehensive claim to explanation and assessment of economic theory formation" criticized by business ethics , in short: the "dominance of the economy",
  • in the history of Marxism-Leninism a polemical term for an "opportunist" current from the point of view of Leninism that wants to limit the political struggle to mere economic reforms and bourgeois-democratic content and denies the need for a revolutionary party of the working class.

Economism as a criticism of society

A current use of the term "economism" can be found in the Berlin speech by Federal President Johannes Rau on May 12, 2004:

““ Our democratic state is more than a service company and also more than an agency to strengthen the business location. The state also protects and strengthens the freedom of its citizens against social and economic forces that have long threatened the freedom of the individual much more than any government. To this end, he also lays down rules and duties for the benefit of the community. In this way the state creates freedom against pure economism and against the dominant dogma of efficiency and profit maximization. ""

The term economism in the sense of a "freedom from values ​​in economics" was coined in the 1930s - as Peter Ulrich suspects - by the social scientist Gerhard Weisser . Mid-1950s criticized Weisser so that the neoclassical accompanying economic turnaround systematic consequence of the confrontation as a value-free understanding pure economics on the one hand and one as irrelevant respected ethics on the other. Weisser saw in this two-world conception the cause for an exaggeration of the economic logic to an “ideological economism”. According to Weisser, there cannot be an independent sphere of the 'economic' alongside the sphere of the 'social' and 'cultural'.

Economism as a social theory

Karl Popper describes the “ historicism ” with a Marxist character in contrast to Hegel's idealism or Mill's psychologism as an “economism”. For Marx , in contrast to Hegel, asserts that the key to history, even to the history of ideas, must be found in the development of the relationships between man and his natural environment, his material world, that is, in his economic and not in his spiritual life .

Max Weber turned against the exclusive economism of Marx, even though "the economy (...) for him was considerably more than just one factor among others".

Karl Polanyi was of the opinion that "economist prejudices" can be found not only in Marx, but also in Ludwig Mises ' market liberalism.

In Marxism-Leninism

In the history of the revolutionary movement of Russia, in the party polemics of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party around 1900, the term “economism” came through for the excessive focus on concrete demands of the moment, to the detriment of what should be regarded as the real task, namely political freedom to win the overthrow of the autocratic tsarist rule.

In April 1899 a new magazine was created, Rabotscheje Djelo (German: workers' thing ), around which men gathered who were then called "economists": VP Akimow (Machnowetz), B. Kritschewski and A. Martynow (Pikker). They were accused of economism by Plekhanov , Axelrod and Lenin . Lenin accused the economists, especially on the part of Iskra , of misunderstanding Marxism as a purely economic theory.

In a similar way, Mao Zedong later used the concept of economism (jīngjìzhǔyì, 经济 主义) against his opponents.

At the present time, neo-Marxists distance themselves from economist interpretations of Marxism .

"Economic Imperialism" as a Scientific Approach

The interdisciplinary application of economic models to other areas of the social sciences is sometimes referred to as “economism” . According to Karl Homann, this is "a methodological economism, not an economism in the matter". Thus, economics is no longer determined by a specific subject area, i.e. the economy, but formally as the application of economic (more precisely: microeconomic ) methodology to any action. This "penetration" of economics into the areas of other social sciences is also partly perceived as economic imperialism .

The American Nobel Prize winner for economics, Gary S. Becker, is considered to be the main representative of this direction . With the help of a theory of action common in microeconomics, he seeks to explain political processes, social conditions and social action, for example marriages, upbringing, voting behavior, in general, any decision-making, including in the non-economic area, with cost-benefit considerations of the acting individual.

Under the title "Economic Imperialism" took place on 7-10. June 1984 a workshop and a colloquium took place in Vienna; the corresponding contributions have been published. The subject ranges from the investigation of Becker's explanatory approach to the theory of science, history, sociology, political science, law and biology.

Gary Becker's theory of action explicitly comprises three components: (1) a maximization strategy (e.g. of utility or profit ), (2) a market equilibrium, (3) stable preferences.

Becker's theory of action postulates are therefore much narrower than those made by Karl Popper in his situation logic. For example, Ludwig von Mises also rejects the assumption of ordered preferences as completely unrealistic. Many economists also dispute the assumption of a tendency towards market equilibrium. Nevertheless, one can argue that Becker's approach allows interesting theoretical insights, even under less strict assumptions, by considering non-economic areas such as an (implicit) market with (implicit) prices.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Niels Gottschalk-Mazouz (Institute for Philosophy at the University of Stuttgart, Lecture on Business Ethics and Economism , 2006)
  2. ^ "Economism", Philosophical Dictionary, Vol. 2, Ed. Georg Klaus, Manfred Buhr. deb verlag das Europäische Buch Westberlin 11th edition 1975. ISBN 3-920-30336-9 .
  3. ↑ Berlin speech by Federal President Johannes Rau on May 12, 2004 ( Memento from December 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Peter Ulrich: Republican Liberalism and Corporate Citizenship. From the economic fiction of the common good to the republican-ethical self-commitment of economic actors. In: Münkler / Bluhm (Hrsg.): Between Normativität and facticity , Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, 2002, pp. 273-291, here p. 274, based on the writings: Gerhard Weisser: Wirtschaftsppolitik als Wissenschaft. Basic questions of national economy , Stuttgart 1934, p. 49ff as well as Gerhard Weisser: The overcoming of economism in economics [1934], printed in: Contributions to social policy , Göttingen 1978, p. 573-601, refers. See also Peter Ulrich: Integrative Wirtschaftsethik , Haupt, 4th ed. Bern 2008, p. 137.
  5. ↑ Peter Ulrich: Market economy serving life and the future responsibility of mature economic citizens. In: Böhler et al .: Responsibility for the future in the market economy , Münster u. a., LIT-Verlag, 2000, pp. 70-84, here p. 75.
  6. ^ Gerhard Weisser: Economy. In: W. Ziegenfuß (Ed.): Handbuch der Soziologie , Stuttgart, 1956, pp. 970-1098, here p. 974.
  7. ↑ Karl R. Popper: The open society and its enemies. Vol. II: False Prophets - Hegel, Marx and the Consequences. 6th edition Munich 1980 (first: 1944). P. 123.
  8. ↑ Dirk Wieland: The limits of individualization: social structure analysis between objective being and subjective consciousness. VS Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3810039977 , p. 51ff.
  9. ^ Joachim Radkau: Max Weber. The passion of thinking. Hanser, Munich 205, p. 164.
  10. ↑ Allan Carlson: "The Problem of Karl Polanyi." (PDF; 55 kB) In: The Intercollegiate Review 2006, p. 32.
  11. ^ Leonard Schapiro: The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. S. Fischer Verlag 1962. (Engl .: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Eyre & Spottiswoode: London.) P. 47 ff.
  12. ↑ Vladimir I. Lenin: What to do? , 1902.
  13. ^ Charles Bettelheim et al .: Writings on the class struggle , 1970
  14. ↑ Charles Bettelheim: Les Luttes de classes en URSS (1ère période 1917-1923) . 1974, p. 31, ISBN 2-02-002206-0 .
  15. ↑ Joachim Glaubitz: Economism, not just a catchphrase in the struggle with the enemies of Mao Tse-tung , reports of the Federal Institute for Eastern Studies and International Studies, No. 8, 1967
  16. ^ Karl Homann: Economics: Continuation of ethics with other means. ( Memento of April 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) p. 13.
  17. ^ Hendrik Hansen: Politics and economic competition in globalization. VS Verlag 2008. ISBN 3531157221 . P. 30
  18. ↑ Gebhard Kirchgässner: Homo Oeconomicus. Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 1991, p. 139.
  19. ↑ Martin Leschke, Ingo Pies, (Ed.): Gary Beckers economic imperialism. ( Memento of October 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 1998. ISBN 3-16-146965-8
  20. ^ Gerard Radnitzky , Peter Bernholz (ed.): Economic Imperialism. The Economic Approach Applied Outside the Field of Economics. Paragon House Publishers, New York 1987, ISBN 0-943852-11-0 .
  21. ^ Gerard Radnitzky: Cost-Benefit Thinking in the Methodology of Research: The 'Economic Approach' Applied to Key Problems of the Philosophy of Science. P. 283 ff.
  22. ^ Roger E. Meiners: Economic Considerations in History: Theory and a Little Practice. P. 79 ff.
  23. ↑ James S. Coleman: Norms as Social Capital. P. 133 ff.
  24. ^ Anthony F. Heath: The Economic Theory of Democracy: The Rise of the Liberals in Britain. P. 105 ff.
  25. ^ Walter Block: Trading Money for Silence. P. 157 ff.
  26. ↑ Michael T. Ghiselin: Principles and Prospects for General Economy. P. 21 ff.
  27. ^ John H. Gray: The Economic Approach to Human Behavior: Its Prospects and Limitations. In: Gerard Radnitzky, Peter Bernholz, (Ed.): Economic Imperialism. The Economic Approach Applied Outside the Field of Economics. A Professors World Peace Academy Book. Paragon House Publishers New York. 1987. ISBN 0-943852-11-0 . S. 34. See Gary Becker: The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. University of Chicago Press 1976. p. 5 .; Gary Becker: Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory. Journal of Political Economy 1962.
  28. ^ John H. Gray: The Economic Approach to Human Behavior: Its Prospects and Limitations. In: Gerard Radnitzky, Peter Bernholz, (ed.): E conomic Imperialism. The Economic Approach Applied Outside the Field of Economics. A Professors World Peace Academy Book. Paragon House Publishers New York. 1987. ISBN 0-943852-11-0 . P. 34 ff.

See also