Bored by the economy... (Two sides of institutionalism)
O.Yu. MAMEDOV
Doctor of economic sciences (DSc), Professor, Head of the Department of Political Economy and Economic Policy, Honoured worker of science of the Russian Federation, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don
Doctor of economic sciences (DSc), Professor, Head of the Department of Political Economy and Economic Policy, Honoured worker of science of the Russian Federation, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don
TERRA ECONOMICUS, 2013, Vol. 11 (no. 2.1),
p. 5-10
Institutionalism has firmly established among the social sciences, and it’s rather hard today to find an article or a dissertation that can do without (more or less appropriate) the smart adjective – «institutional». Yet, adherents of classical economic school are still embarrassed and on the look-out about the new theory. Certainly, no sane economist would deny that activity of social organizations is affected not only by the influence of economic factors: social factors, including social institutions, make the «social environment» in which these social organizations work. But the approaches of economists and institutionalists to social processes distinguish in another aspect – namely, in assessment of these factors. While economists consider the influence of economic factors to be the primary ones, that is, determinative for institutional factors (as the secondary ones) as well, – institutionalists aim at institutional factors’ description as equal to economic factors. Such a standpoint favours the institutional theory to be lifted in the hierarchy of social sciences. What are, then, the « pluses» and the «minuses» of institutionalism? The author focuses on general and special features of the methodology of economic and institutional knowledge.
Keywords: institutional theory; methodology of social analysis; economic theory
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Publisher: Southern Federal University
Founder: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606
Founder: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606