Imagining Economics Otherwise: Encounters with Identity Difference (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)

It is possible to be ‘irrational’ without being ‘uneconomic’? What is the link between ‘Value’ and ‘values’? What do economists do when they ‘explain’? We live in times when the economic logic has become unquestionable and all-powerful so that our quotidian economic experiences are defined by their scientific construal. This book is the result of a multifaceted investigation into the nature of knowledge produced by economics, and the construction of the category that is termed ‘economic’ with its implied exclusions. It is an attempt to think economics Otherwise, that is, a questioning of economics as if difference mattered. Nitasha Kaul re-examines certain understood ways of thinking about economics as a discipline, especially in elation to questions of identity and difference. This book explores the notion that economics is not a timeless, universal, objective science but a changing response to the problems of knowledge and administration. The epistemological inheritance of economics is ‘rooted’ in the enlightenment, and it also inherits the liberal paradoxes of that age. Kaul argues that the juxtaposition of identity with economic (culture/economy) is essential, and can only be achieved by critiquing establishment economists’ discourse on identity, and taking feminist poststructural and postcolonial work seriously. The author challenges the assumption that there is a simple linkage between the category economic, the entity economy and the study of economics. She envisions an economics in the plural: contextual, social, political—econo-mixes. The book brings together some of the most urgent topics of the day—the power of economics as a discipline, the questions of difference and the politics of identity, and feminist perspectives on this. It will be particularly relevant to heterodox economists, feminist theorists, postcolonial studies scholars, social and cultural theorists, philosophers and history of ideas or intellectual history of thought scholars. Annotation It is possible to be #x80;#x98;irrational#x80;#x99; without being #x80;#x98;uneconomic#x80;#x99;? What is the link between #x80;#x98;Value#x80;#x99; and #x80;#x98;values#x80;#x99;? What do economists do when they #x80;#x98;explain#x80;#x99;? We live in times when the economic logic has become unquestionable and all-powerful so that our quotidian economic experiences are defined by their scientific construal. This book is the result of a multifaceted investigation into the nature of knowledge produced by economics, and the construction of the category that is termed #x80;#x98;economic#x80;#x99; with its implied exclusions. It is an attempt to think economics Otherwise, that is, a questioning of economics as if difference mattered. Nitasha Kaul re-examines certain understood ways of thinking about economics as a discipline, especially in elation to questions of identity and difference. This book explores the notion that economics is not a timeless, universal, objective science but a changing response to the problems of knowledge and administration. The epistemological inheritance ofeconomics is #x80;#x98;rooted#x80;#x99; in the enlightenment, and it also inherits the liberal paradoxes of that age. Kaul argues that the juxtaposition of identity with economic (culture/economy) is essential, and can only be achieved by critiquing establishment economists#x80;#x99; discourse on identity, and taking feminist poststructural and postcolonial work seriously. The author challenges the assumption that there is a simple linkage between the category economic, the entity economy and the study of economics. She envisions an economics in the plural: contextual, social, political#x80;#x94;econo-mixes. The book brings together some of the most urgent topics of the day#x80;#x94;the power of economics as a discipline, the questions of difference and the politics of identity, and feminist perspectives on this. It will be particularly relevant to heterodox economists, feminist theorists, postcolonial studies scholars, social and cultural theorists, philosophers and history of ideas or intellectual history of thought scholars Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 10 Copyright......Page 11 Dedication......Page 12 Contents......Page 14 Acknowledgements......Page 18 Part 1: Looking back, looking ahead......Page 22 1 The anatomy of a discipline......Page 24 Part 2: Rooting and routing economics......Page 48 2 Enlightenment epistemology and the subject-world of economics......Page 50 Part 3: Issues of knowledge and difference......Page 108 3 Modernist rendition of knowledge and the question of difference......Page 110 Part 4: Juxtaposing questions of identity and the economic......Page 140 4 Identity problematics......Page 142 5 Economics and identity......Page 174 6 Rethinking identity translationally and reconsidering the economic......Page 207 Part 5: In conclusion......Page 238 7 Writing economic theory anOther way......Page 240 Bibliography......Page 264 Index......Page 292 This Text Re-examines Certain Understood Ways Of Thinking About Economics As A Discipline. The Author Presents An Investigation Into The Nature Of Knowledge Produced By Economics. Pt. 1. Looking Back, Looking Ahead -- Pt. 2. Rooting And Routing Economics -- Pt. 3. Issues Of Knowledge And Difference -- Pt. 4. Juxtaposing Questions Of Identity And The Economic -- Pt. 5. In Conclusion. Nitasha Kaul. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [243]-269) And Index. The result of a multifaceted investigation into the nature of knowledge produced by economics, this book re-examines certain understood ways of thinking about economics as a discipline, especially in relation to questions of identity and difference.