Socioeconomics

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Socioeconomics deals with economic activity in its social context and with the respective relationship to other social, political, demographic, ecological and spatial processes. It is a relatively new social and economic science, but not a highly specialized individual discipline, but rather a common perspective of several disciplines that cooperate in research and teaching in order to better understand, describe and explain social, economic and political reality. Socio-economics is both a research program and a field of study that is now anchored in a few universities. As an interdisciplinary perspective and interdisciplinary field of study, it draws on theories and methods from several academic subjects, including economics, sociology, history , economic and social geography , political science and the like. a. m. The consideration of a system as a socio-economic system plays a special role .

features

There is currently no consensus on what exactly defines socio-economics, although the term has been in use for about 20 years. Amitai Etzioni , most frequently named for its development, understands socioeconomics as a morally, socio-ethically corrected economy (Etzioni 1988). Others advocate the perspective of a “social science of the economy” (Hedtke 2015) or emphasize the necessity of including a reflective historical perspective as well as the fact that the social and economic sciences have to engage with each other on a content-related and methodological level (Mikl-Horke 2011 ). The range of diverging understandings should be illustrated using a few examples:

Central to Amitai Etzioni's program is the I&W paradigm, according to which people follow their own self-interest in their actions on the one hand, but also follow their values ​​and norms on the other hand, and therefore cannot be understood as a purely rational individual. “Socio-economics is what Etzioni sees as an economics that is supposed to look for solutions to economic problems. The designation `Socio-´ stands for social sciences, insofar as they are dedicated to the relationships between society and economy (...). Etzioni's socio-economics should be an alternative to neoclassical economics as well as to sociology, which he largely identifies with functionalism. "(Mikl-Horke 2015, p. 118f.)

The " Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics " (SASE) founded by Etzioni is based on an understanding of socio-economics as a meta-discipline that is not a self-contained system, but rather is embedded in society, politics and culture. The disciplines represented in it are economics, sociology, political science, management, psychology, law, history and philosophy.

“Characteristic of socio-economics is the comprehensive claim to be able to describe and explain economics and economic activity more“ realistically ”and therefore more comprehensively than standard economics or neoclassical approaches. Behind this is a complex understanding of the tasks and the methodology of a modern social science, of which economics is a part (cf. Weber and Schumpeter). "

“Research into the prerequisites and consequences of the economy and its processes of change are important perspectives for a socio-economic perspective. As Weber already pointed out, the socio-economy is not determined by object areas, but by the problem. ”(Gertraude Mikl-Horke 2011a., P. 52)

"Socio-economics follows a fundamentally interdisciplinary approach, since it deals with the interrelationship between the social and the economic, human behavior and normative regulations, unequal distribution of resources, which in turn are embedded in certain environmental conditions." (Oris and Burgnard 2015, p. 371)

“Socioeconomics is a meaningful and necessary project that involves methodological, theoretical and institutional risks. But it is worthwhile and can help to overcome the current state (i.e. the largely autistic juxtaposition of specialized subjects - note). That would be an important step for the sciences involved, but also for the addressees of their findings - for everyone who wants to better understand how the economy and society interfere. " (Bohmann, Hofbauer, Schülein 2014, p. 12)

Summary

As these few examples show, it is currently not possible to speak of “one” socio-economy. While some start from or orientate themselves on economics, others from and on the social sciences; While some are primarily interested in problem-oriented, empirical research and teaching, others are looking for overarching terms and a theoretical roof for socio-economics. The trans-, inter-, or multidisciplinary search is made more difficult by the fact that - at least in the social science disciplines - there is no “mainstream”, but rather a multi-paradigmatic ensemble. But this should not only be seen as a problem, but also as an opportunity - not least for students of socioeconomics. The open framework gives them "the privilege of being able to act as independent actors" (Oris and Burgnard 2015, p. 374) and gives them the opportunity to contribute to an understanding of socioeconomics with their seminar papers and theses.

History / courses of study

Socioeconomics as a subject

In colleges and universities, the anchoring of socio-economics as a subject is not very widespread. From 1971 to 2000, the University of Augsburg offered a "Socioeconomics" course with a degree in economics. The focus from the social sciences could include a. Economic Psychology, Human Resources, Empirical Social Research and General Socioeconomics can be chosen. In the course of the reorientation of the economics courses, the socio-economic institute was dissolved and the chairs integrated into the institute for business administration and the philosophical faculty. The Socio-Economics course ended in 2000.

In Austria, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WUW) established an interdisciplinary diploma course in socio-economics between 2003 and 2009/2010, with the aim of offering an alternative to studying business administration, economics and business education. The lecturers came from the humanities, formal and social sciences as well as economics departments. Since the winter semester of 2006 there has been the option of choosing a major in economics and socio-economics with the two respective priorities as part of the bachelor's degree in economics and social sciences (WISO). With the winter semester 2010, a “Master's program in socio-economics” was started, which is now part of the interdisciplinary department for socio-economics (established in the same year). The course is intended to provide students with multifaceted knowledge about the social and cultural conditions of economic activity and the theoretical and methodological skills required for analyzing specific problems. In Switzerland, a “Socioéconomie” course was created in the 2008 academic year at the University of Geneva. This is a master’s program for all graduates of the Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and International Relations. The course is offered with two emphases: maîtrise en socioéconomie and maîtrise en socioéconomie, orientation démographique. Since then, both the Vienna and Geneva master’s degree programs have recorded significant increases in student numbers.

Comparable courses

Not as "socio-economics", but with a similar orientation, at the Faculty of Social Economics at the University of Hamburg , as the successor to the Hamburg University of Economics and Politics (HWP), interdisciplinary social economics (business administration, economics, law and sociology) can address the interactions between society, economics and politics be studied.

The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel has been offering a bachelor's degree in socio-economics since the 2015/16 winter semester. The course offers an almost complete integration of the study of economics, sociology and political science, in which all essential traditional components of B.Sc. courses are represented in the three subject areas and thus the core competencies in the economic or social science area are maintained.

At the Johann Kepler University (JKU) in Linz there is both a bachelor's and a master's degree in social economy.

At the Faculty of Economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), both a bachelor's and master's degree in "Social Economics" is offered, which follows the tradition of the Nuremberg diploma course for a degree in social economics Univ. continues.

From the 2016/17 winter semester, there will be a new course at the University of Siegen , "Plural Economics", which "discusses and examines economic phenomena with a variety of different approaches ...". In addition, "[he] distinguishes himself through the discourse of alternative thought traditions" and "aims at students who critically reflect on their own economic understanding and want to abandon familiar paths of thought." Due to its critical examination of several subject areas - including economics and business administration, ethics, law, ecology, history and sociology - the course is in line with some guiding values ​​of socio-economics, although it is specifically related to plural economics . An essential core element of this last tradition is a critical examination of the neoclassical model of economics.

Research program

Due to the divergent understandings of socio-economics, the different authors also refer to different research traditions that have been referred to with terms such as socio-economics or social economics . Depending on the approach, the forerunners of socioeconomics are classics of the social sciences, economics and, in some cases, historical sciences; In any case, however, authors who worked in a time when the social and economic sciences were not as differentiated as they are now as independent, professionalized and highly specialized subjects, and economics still saw itself as a social theory.

According to the sociologist Andrea Maurer in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon , the research program Socioeconomics got its name from the older German term “Socialökonomie” ( Weber 1985/1920; Schumpeter 1987) and is now also referred to as “ Sozialökonomik ” or “ Sozialökonomie ” (Perridon and Granvogl 2000 ; cf. for a detailed explanation of the history of the concept, Oppolzer 1990). According to Maurer's entry in the economic encyclopedia, socio- economics stands for a research program that aims to explain economic activity as well as the core institutions and structures of the modern economy not only from an "economic" point of view and with exclusive consideration of economic factors. Rather, the common concern of socio-economists is to locate economies and economic activities in their societal conditions and therefore to focus on the interplay between economy and society.

According to the sociologist Alfred Oppolzer , the necessity of social economy is challenged from the various individual disciplines, for example from business administration (Reinhard Schultz, 1988), also from economics ( Günter Schmölders , 1973) and political economy ( Werner Hofmann , 1969) from sociology ( Max Weber , 1904) as well as from ergonomics (Manfred Schweres, 1980; Alfred Oppolzer, 1989).

Literature cited

  • Gerda Bohmann, Johanna Hofbauer, Johann August Schülein (eds.): Socio-economic perspectives. Texts on the relationship between society and the economy. facultas wuv, Vienna 2014.
  • Amitai Etzioni: The Moral Dimension. Toward a New Economics. The Free Press, New York 1988.
  • Reinhold Hedtke: What is and why socio-economy? In: Reinhold Hedtke (Ed.): What is and why socio-economy. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015.
  • Reinhold Hedtke: Socio-economic education as innovation through tradition. In: GW lessons. 140, 2015, pp. 18-38.
  • Andrea Maurer: Socioeconomics. In: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: Historical Sociology - Socioeconomics - Economic Sociology. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: What is socio-economy? From the social economy of the classics to the socio-economy of the present. In: Gertraude Mikl-Horke (Hrsg.): Socio-economy: The return of the economy in society. Metropolis, Marburg 2011.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: Traditions, problems and constitutional problems of socio-economy. In: Reinhold Hedtke (Ed.): What is and why socio-economy. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 95–123.
  • Alfred Oppolzer: Social economy: to the subject, concept and history. In: Socio-economic contributions. Journal for economics, politics and society. 1st year Hamburg. 1/1990, pp. 6-29.
  • Michel Oris, Sylvie Burgnard: A Model of Socio- Economic Degree Programs. In: Reinhold Hedtke (Ed.): What is and why socio-economy. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 371–390.

further reading

  • Gerda Bohmann, Johanna Hofbauer, Johann August Schülein (eds.): Socio-economic perspectives. Texts on the relationship between society and the economy. facultas wuv, Vienna 2014.
  • Amitai Etzioni: The Moral Dimension. Toward a New Economics. The Free Press, New York 1988.
  • Amitai Etzioni: Socio-economics. The next steps. In: Socio-economics. To-ward a new synthesis ... 1990.
  • Amitai Etzioni: Toward a new socio-economic paradigm. In: Socio-Economic Review. No. 1, 2003, pp. 105-134.
  • Andreas Fischer, Bettina Zurstrassen (Ed.): Socio-economic education. bpb series of publications, Bonn 2014.
  • Heinz Granvogl, Louis Perridon: Socioeconomics. Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 2000.
  • Reinhold Hedtke: What is and why socio-economy? In: Reinhold Hedtke (Ed.): What is and why socio-economy. A book on the state of the discussion. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015. doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-531-19853-8
  • Simon N. Hellmich: What is Socioeconomics? An Overview of Theories, Methods, and Themes in the Field. In: Forum for Social Economics. 44 (1), 2015, pp. 1–23. doi: 10.1080 / 07360932.2014.999696
  • Ernst Langthaler: What does social economy mean? Lecture notes-1.pdf (Lecture notes-1 \ 374). University of Vienna, 2009. (Download the PDF)
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: Historical sociology of the economy. Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 1999.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: Social science perspectives of the economy. Oldenbourg, Munich 2008.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke: historical sociology - socioeconomics - economic sociology. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011.
  • Gertraude Mikl-Horke (Ed.): Socio-economy: The return of the economy in society. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2011.
  • Karl Bachinger, Herbert Matis: Development dimensions of capitalism: Classical socio-economic conceptions and analyzes. Böhlau, Vienna / Stuttgart / Weimar 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ sase.org ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , see. Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sase.org @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sase.org
  2. ↑ Andrea Maurer : Socioeconomics. In: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon.
  3. ↑ Bachelor's degree in socio-economics . In: WiSo . ( uni-kiel.de [accessed on September 11, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Social Economy . Bachelor degree . Johannes Kepler University Linz.
  5. ↑ Social Economy . Master’s degree . Johannes Kepler University Linz.
  6. ↑ Social Economics Bachelor ›Department of Economics. In: www.wiso.rw.fau.de. Retrieved September 20, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Social Economics Master ›Department of Economics. In: www.wiso.rw.fau.de. Retrieved September 20, 2016 .
  8. ^ University of Siegen : Master of Plural Economics . master-plurale-oekonomik.de
  9. ↑ University of Siegen : Module Handbook Master's Plural Economics . master-plurale-oekonomik.de
  10. ↑ Pia Ratzesberger: teaching in economics - Little new in economics lecture . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 10, 2016.
  11. ↑ Andrea Maurer : Socioeconomics . In: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon (accessed December 24, 2017).
  12. ↑ Alfred Oppolzer: Social economy: On subject, concept and history. In: Socio-economic contributions. Journal for economics, politics and society. 1st year Hamburg. 1/1990, pp. 6-29.