Socio-economic behavioral research
The concept of socio-economic behavior research founded by Günter Schmölders in the 1950s aims to explain economically relevant behavior with the aid of findings from neighboring social science disciplines. "All attempts to explain the economic world deal in some way with human behavior in the economic sphere."
Subject and methods
Traditionally the economics to explain economic behavior social or psychological factors largely and are limited in their analyzes on the model of homo economicus , the rational decision and it is based on the maximum economic benefit. Schmölders, on the other hand, wanted to "contribute to a correction of this arrogant opinion with his socio-economic behavior research and show that there is more psychology in finances than mathematics or even mere logic, which terms most people try to bring to the topic."
"While sociology mostly speaks of empirical social research , I think the term behavioral research makes more sense for the economic area , because it makes it clear that economic processes must be viewed not as exogenously determined mechanisms, but as the results of human actions. These actions are largely channeled and stabilized through the action of habits, institutions and social values and norms ; the subject of behavior research is therefore not only the economically relevant behaviors and attitudes themselves, but all factors influencing them, not only the behavior-determining situation, but also the motivation that explains behavior. "
Empirically oriented scientific contributions - mainly represented by the research work of the Research Center for Empirical Social Economics founded by Schmölders in 1958 - are intended to create the basis for a general socio-economic behavior theory. Socio-economic behavioral research therefore relies on empirical-theoretical approaches from neighboring disciplines such as sociology , social psychology , psychology and anthropology to explain the economically relevant behavior . To review her theoretical approaches, she uses the techniques offered by modern empirical social research . The main fields of research are tax psychology , consumer behavior , saving behavior and work behavior. One of the best-known results of socio-economic behavior research is the development of the consumer climate index , the calculation of which was later adopted by GfK .
A somewhat accidental Renaissance experiences the socio-economic behavior research in behavioral economics , to German about behavioral economics , which developed in the 1980s in the US, where the research approach of Schmölders was hardly known.
literature
- G. Schmölders: Economic behavior research, in: ORDO , Yearbook for the Order of Economy and Society, Volume V, Godesberg 1953, pp. 203–244.
- HS Seidenfus: Behavioral research, socio-economic, in: Handwortbuch der Sozialwissenschaften, 1960, 29, pp. 95-102.
- G. Schmölders: Socio-economic behavior research. Edited by G. Brinkmann, B. Strümpel and H. Zimmermann. Contributions to behavioral research, issue 16, Berlin 1973
- G. Schmölders: Behavioral research in business life. Theory and Reality, Munich 1984
swell
- ^ Behavioral research, socio-economic, in: Handwortbuch der Sozialwissenschaften, 1960, 29, p. 95
- ↑ G. Schmölders: "Got through well?" Memories of life, Berlin 1988, p. 168
- ↑ G. Schmölders: Behavioral research in economic life. Theory and Reality, Munich 1984, p. 9f.
- ↑ G. Schmölders: Behavioral research in economic life. Theory and Reality, Munich 1984, p. 152f.