Mario Cedrini - Economics as Social Science: Economics Imperialism and the Challenge of Interdisciplinary

Economics as Social Science

There is a growing consensus in social sciences that there is a need for interdisciplinary research on the complexity of human behaviour. At an age of crisis for both the economy and economic theory, economics is called upon to fruitfully cooperate with contiguous social disciplines. The term economics imperialism refers to the expansion of economics to territories that lie outside the traditional domain of the discipline. Its critics argue that in starting with the assumption of maximizing behaviour, economics excludes the nuances of rival disciplines and has problems in interpreting real-world phenomena.

This book focuses on a territory that persists to be largely intractable using the postulates of economics: that of primitive societies. In retracing the origins of economics imperialism back to the birth of the discipline, this volume argues that it offers a reductionist interpretation that is poor in interpretative power. By engaging with the neglected traditions of sociological and anthropological studies, the analysis offers suggestions for a more democratic cooperation between the social sciences.

Economics as Social Science is of great interest to those who study the history of economic thought, political economy and the history of economic anthropology, as well as the history of social sciences and economic methodology.

Roberto Marchionatti is Professor of Economics at the University of Turin, Italy, where he teaches economics, history of economic theory and economic anthropology.

Mario Cedrini is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Turin, Italy, where he teaches macroeconomics, international economics, history of economic thought and economic anthropology.

Routledge Advances in Social Economics
Edited by John B. Davis, Marquette University

This series presents new advances and developments in social economics thinking on a variety of subjects that concern the link between social values and economics. Need, justice and equity, gender, cooperation, work poverty, the environment, class, institutions, public policy and methodology are some of the most important themes. Among the orientations of the authors are social economist, institutionalist, humanist, solidarist, cooperatist, radical and Marxist, feminist, post-Keynesian, behaviouralist, and environmentalist. The series offers new contributions from todays most foremost thinkers on the social character of the economy.

Publishes in conjunction with the Association of Social Economics.

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/Routledge-Advances-in-Social-Economics/book-series/SE0071

19 Poverty and Social Exclusion
New Methods of Analysis
Edited by Gianni Betti and Achille Lemmi

20 Social Capital and Economics
Social values, power and social identity
Edited by Asimina Christoforou and John B. Davis

21 The Economics of Values-Based Organizations
An Introduction
Luigino Bruni and Alessandra Smerilli

22 The Economics of Resource-Allocation in Healthcare
Cost-Utility, Social Value and Fairness
Andrea Klonschinski

23 Economics as Social Science
Economics imperialism and the challenge of interdisciplinarity
Roberto Marchionatti and Mario Cedrini

Economics as Social Science

Economics imperialism and the
challenge of interdisciplinarity

Roberto Marchionatti and
Mario Cedrini

First published 2017
by Routledge
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2017 Roberto Marchionatti and Mario Cedrini

The right of Roberto Marchionatti and Mario Cedrini to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Marchionatti, Roberto, 1950- author. | Cedrini, Mario, author.

Title: Economics as social science : economics imperialism and the challenge of interdisciplinary / Roberto Marchionatti and Mario Cedrini.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016023181| ISBN 9781138909298 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315694047 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Economics. | Interdisciplinary research.

Classification: LCC HB71 .M283 2017 | DDC 330dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023181_

ISBN: 978-1-138-90929-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-69404-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

The volume embeds the authors long-standing concern, and resulting reflections, on the issue of interdisciplinarity. The perspective here adopted combines the history of economic ideas with an epistemological and methodological approach to the limits of economics imperialism. The book builds on some previous works, and in particular: Gli economisti e i selvaggi (Economists and Savages) by Roberto Marchionatti (Milano: Bruno Mondadori, 2008); The Economists and Primitive Societies. A Critique of Economic Imperialism, by Roberto Marchionatti, The Journal of Socio-Economics, 41(5), 2012: 52940; On the Theoretical and Practical Relevance of the Concept of Gift to the Development of a Non-Imperialist Economics, by Mario Cedrini and Roberto Marchionatti, Review of Radical Political Economics, forthcoming 2016, and Just Another Niche in the Wall? How Specialization Is Changing the Face of Mainstream Pluralism, by Mario Cedrini and Magda Fontana, a revised version of the Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis Working Paper 2015/10, University of Turin.

This book has benefited greatly from the suggestions of several colleagues and researchers working in the field of economics, anthropology and history, as well as from feedback received at a number of conferences and workshops. Special thanks go to Marshall Sahlins and the participants in the second edition of the workshop Revisiting the Boundaries of Economics. A Historical Perspective, held at Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri (Turin), on 19 May 2011. We also thank Matteo Aria, conveners of the conference La produzione sociale dellaltruismo: il dono del sangue tra dono, stato e mercato, held at Sapienza University, Rome, on 2729 November 2013, and the conference participants. We are grateful to colleagues of the Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis of the University of Turin for their participation in a seminar held on 8 May 2014. We are indebted as well to Michael Perelman and participants in the Annual Conference of the History of Economics Society, held in Montreal on 2022 June 2014. Finally, we thank Gianluca Cuniberti and participants in the conference Dono, controdono e corruzione. Ricerche storiche e dialogo internazionale, held at Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Turin, on 34 December 2015.