Ontology and the Current Economic Crisis

Fleetwood, Steve

Abstract

There are, meta-theoretically speaking, two main ways to investigate socio-economic phenomena in general and the current economic crisis in particular, each one rooted in its own ontology. The first, which I refer to as `scientistic-oriented economics ´ is rooted in an ontology of atomistic, observable events and event regularities. The second, which I refer to as `political-economics´, can be rooted in an ontology which I will abbreviate to structures and mechanisms that are reproduced and transformed by human agents. This ontology has been advocated by critical realists (CRs). The version of political economy I advocate, therefore, is a critical realist-oriented political economy (CR).

Citation

Fleetwood, S. (2017). Ontology and the Current Economic Crisis. In L. Urs, & M. Dimitri (Eds.), Critical Realism meets kritische Sozialtheorie: Ontologie, Erklärung und Kritik in den Sozialwissenschaften (167-193). Bielefeld: Transcript

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 167-193
• Book Title: Critical Realism meets kritische Sozialtheorie: Ontologie, Erklärung und Kritik in den Sozialwissenschaften
• ISBN: 9783837627251
• Keywords: critical realism, crisis, political economy
• Publisher URL: http://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-2725-1/critical-realism-meets-kritische-sozialtheorie
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This text was published as Fleetwood, S. (2017) Ontology and the Current Economic Crisis. In: Urs, L. and Dimitri, M., eds. (2017) Critical Realism meets kritische Sozialtheorie: Ontologie, Erklärung und Kritik in den Sozialwissenschaften. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 167-193. ISBN 9783837627251 The text is posted here by permission of transcript Verlag for personal use only, not for redistribution. This is the author's version of the work. The definitive version was published here: http://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-2725-1/critical-realism-meets-kritische-sozialtheorie.