Critical Theory and Economics: Philosophical Notes on Contemporary Inequality

This book expands upon economic insights within the context of critical theory, particularly with respect to socioeconomic inequalities, and presents an explanation of how critical theory provides a number of interesting perspectives for economists. Economic agents are microscopic constituents of systemic forces that exist beyond their will, and aggregate market distributional mechanisms display non-rational patterns. The dialectical approach adopted by the author aims to uncover how structurally genetic market forces govern individual behavior and how individual behavior shapes these forces, which together form the transcending principles of unequal distribution.

Format: Hardback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 23 March 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book delves into a wide range of economic insights within the framework of critical theory, particularly focusing on the issue of socioeconomic inequalities. It offers an explanation of how critical theory provides economists with several intriguing perspectives.

Economic agents, confined by their instrumental rationality as a survival strategy in competitive relationships, are microscopic components of systemic forces that transcend their individual wills. While these agents exhibit subjective rationality in terms of formal logical transitivity and consistency, aggregate market distributional mechanisms also display non-rational patterns.

The central aspect of this system lies in the paralyzing effect of high levels of socioeconomic inequality, driven by an ongoing struggle for self-preservation under competitive rules. This inequality is reminiscent of natural, uncivilized relationships that shaped the reproduction process of the entire system. As these agents are reified and become instruments of their socially constructed powers, they simultaneously become objects of their existential conditionality.

The author's dialectical approach aims to uncover the ways in which structurally genetic market forces govern individual behavior, as well as how individual behavior shapes these structurally genetic forces, which together form the transcending principles of unequal distribution.

This book will be of particular interest to scholars of political economy, philosophy, and the methodology of the social sciences, particularly those who are concerned with inequality issues. It includes a preface written by Professor Martin Jay.

Weight: 350g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367222208