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Since the beginning of business research and teaching, the basic assumptions of the discipline have been intensely debated. One of these basic assumptions concerns the behavioral aspects of human beings, which are traditionally represented in the construct of homo economicus. These assumptions have been increasingly challenged in light of findings from social, ethnological, psychological, and ethical research. Some publications from an integrative perspective have suggested that homo economicus embodies to a high degree dark character traits, particularly related to the construct of psychopathy, representing individuals who are extremely self-centered and ruthless, without feelings of remorse or compassion. While a growing body of research notes such a similarity on a more or less anecdotal basis, this article aims to explore this connection from a more rigorous perspective, bridging insights from psychological, economic, and business research to better understand the potentially dark traits of homo economicus. The analysis shows that homo economicus is not simply some kind of psychopath, but specifically a so-called subclinical or Factor 1 psychopath, who is also referred to as a "corporate psychopath" in business research. With such an analysis, the paper adds an additional perspective and a deeper psychological level of understanding as to why homo economicus is often controversially debated. Based on these insights, several implications for academic research and teaching are discussed and reflected upon in light of an ethics of virtue and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What would it truly mean to treat individuals "as real people" when designing public policies? This paper addresses this question by critically assessing the arguments put forth by Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman's Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics, and Public Policy (2019). Rizzo and Whitman argue that the endeavor of Behavioral Economics to reintroduce psychology into economics and to critique the narrow concept of homo economicus used by neoclassical economics was commendable. However, Behavioral Economics failed to deliver the theoretical breakaway from Neoclassical Economics that it promised. They argue that while Behavioral Economics rejects neoclassical rationality descriptively, it still adheres to it normatively, a move the authors find unjustified. The authors critique libertarian paternalism, a normative branch of Behavioral Economics, for its narrow concept of rationality, emphasizing the ambiguity in determining decision failures and true preferences. Moreover, even when it is apparent that agents are behaving erroneously, implementing policy measures to rectify the situation would be an almost impossible task or, in a worst-case scenario, could have unintended negative consequences. Overall, the book excels in scrutinizing the methodological foundations of libertarian paternalism. Building on their critique, in the final chapter of the book, the authors endeavor to outline their vision for the future of behavioral public policy. They advocate for treating humans as intricate beings rather than mere marionettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second digital wave has positioned artificial intelligence and digital platforms as new general purpose technologies, has driven the emergence of new value sources: prediction and circulation values, and has created a new explanatory phase into the relationship between digitalisation and economy: the digital transition. The governance of the digital transition, fully inserted in globalised capitalism, are not being able to reduce polarisation, economic inequalities, or the worsening environment. The article argues that failure in economic policy is closely linked to failure in political economy. The prevailing neoclassical approach is not being able to comprehensively explain the foundations, behaviour and results of digital economic life. To overcome this limitation, the article proposes a new narrative, the emergence of a new explanatory figure of economic behaviour and exchange. Homo digitalis extends the egotistical, isolated, and rational precepts of Homo economicus, and incorporates the scope of social welfare and environmental sustainability as enabling goals. The main components of Homo digitalis are the emergence of multiple biological, social and virtual identities and worlds; the integration of new forms of artificial and intelligent life into our bodies and minds (transhumanism); and the consolidation of a new egalitarian rule based on the access-platform-collaboration identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses objectivity in economics. It criticizes a closed science, ‘view from nowhere’ conception of economics and defends an open science, ‘view from somewhere’ conception of objective science. It ascribes the first conception to mainstream economics, associates it with its principle practices – reductionist modeling, formalization, limited interdisciplinarity, and value neutrality – and argues their foundation is the Homo economicus individual conception. Two problematic consequences of adopting this stance are: (i) value blindness regarding the range and complexity of human values; (ii) fatalism regarding human behavior associated with employing a tenseless representation of time. The paper contrasts the principle practices of an open science, view from science conception – complexity modeling, mixed methods, strong relationships to other disciplines, and value diversity – and argues their foundation is a socially and historically embedded economics individual conception that avoids the value blindness and fatalism problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Social Sciences & Philosophy is the property of Research Center for Humanities & Social Sciences, Academia Sinica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Robinson Crusoe is among the world's most mythologized fictional characters. As homo economicus, economic man, Crusoe is a byword for rugged individualism. Crusoe has been linked to the emergent bourgeois individual, and this role offers a way to reconsider, after 300 years of circulation, an alternate economic reading of the character. This article rereads Crusoe's role in Marx's theory of commodity fetishism, prompted by an art installation, REFUGIO – after Selkirk, after Crusoe by Roger Palmer, which explores a visually doubled figure of Crusoe relocated to the Pacific Ocean. This trope of doubling is reinterpreted with Marx's concept of "economic character masks" and J.M. Coetzee's postcolonial re-imagining of the Crusoe story, Foe, showing that Crusoe's economic character mask continues to operate in the capitalist world while his body is absent. Homo economicus is a fiction that obscures the capitalist individual's imbrication with globalizing networks of exchange, accumulation, and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tradition in political economy holds that constitutions should be designed under the assumption that politicians are knaves. A criticism of this position says that a constitution so designed will cause political actors to behave worse than they otherwise would. Designing a constitution for knaves creates knaves. I critique this argument in the current paper. I advance two claims. First, all constitutions create knaves, because the activity of politics itself creates knaves. Second, knavish constitutions better cultivate virtue when compared to constitutions that lack knavish constraints and guardrails. Put together, the two arguments imply the criticism has it exactly backwards: if you want virtuous politicians, design constitutions under the assumption that they are knaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frank Knight was an enigmatic thinker: about economics, individual behavior more generally, ethics, epistemology, and a number of other subjects. However, his views on some topics often created tensions with his views on other topics. This paper will examine two of these Knightian tensions: his views on the relationship between homo economicus the actual human behavior and his views on the relationship between rational economic behavior and normative economics. It will be argued that Knight anticipated many of the anomalies identified by behavioral economics and yet did so while defending homo economicus to some degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macau, once a Portuguese colony, is now the Las Vegas of the Far East. As an economic decolonisation strategy, the central government of China legitimised the gaming industry in Macau. Many students and teachers were absorbed by casino work, resulting in a low higher education entry rate and sabotaging the city’s sustainable development. While few studies on the Macau student voice exist, the research has mostly adopted either an academician view or top-down surveys. This study explores how Macau university students voice their subjectivities in higher education. Using a combined theoretical framework of Foucauldian homo economicus and the postcolonial theory, this study interviews 17 Macau students from six local tertiary institutions triangulated by four teachers. The findings reveal that, under the influence of neoliberalism, Macau university students voiced their subjectivities as homo economicus, using the mentality of cost-profit to guide their educational practices. They were, however, simultaneously restrained by the performativity of the knowledge economy. Meanwhile, the Macau students’ subjectivities are sealed in a complex discursive matrix of coloniality and (neo)coloniality, not capable of thinking ‘outside the box’ and living a life distinct from Macau’s planned destiny as a casino destination. In conclusion, although we interviewed Macau students and amplified their voices, their perspectives remained confined to the defaults of neoliberal and (neo)colonial discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the 70s, Foucault perceived that the implantation of a new form of governmentality, of a neoliberal sign, entailed a reconfiguration of subjetivity, shaping a new type of homo economicus, the entrepeneur of himself. The changes produced in the global economy and, particularly, in the organization of work, according to the principle of flexibility, encourages the extension of an entrepreneurial individuality. However, the apology for this human model tends to hide a precarious and uncertain work reality, which makes it difficult to develop a consistent personal biography and follow socially responsible courses of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Law & Justice Review is the property of Justice Academy of Turkey and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The strategy method is often used in public goods games to measure an individual's willingness to cooperate depending on the level of cooperation by their groupmates (conditional cooperation). However, while the strategy method is informative, it risks conflating confusion with a desire for fair outcomes, and its presentation may risk inducing elevated levels of conditional cooperation. This problem was highlighted by two previous studies which found that the strategy method could also detect equivalent levels of cooperation even among those grouped with computerized groupmates, indicative of confusion or irrational responses. However, these studies did not use large samples (n = 40 or 72) and only made participants complete the strategy method one time, with computerized groupmates, preventing within-participant comparisons. Here, in contrast, 845 participants completed the strategy method two times, once with human and once with computerized groupmates. Our research aims were twofold: (1) to check the robustness of previous results with a large sample under various presentation conditions; and (2) to use a within-participant design to categorize participants according to how they behaved across the two scenarios. Ideally, a clean and reliable measure of conditional cooperation would find participants conditionally cooperating with humans and not cooperating with computers. Worryingly, only 7% of participants met this criterion. Overall, 83% of participants cooperated with the computers, and the mean contributions towards computers were 89% as large as those towards humans. These results, robust to the various presentation and order effects, pose serious concerns for the measurement of social preferences and question the idea that human cooperation is motivated by a concern for equal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critics of Rawls's A Theory of Justice frequently envision his original position as containing a human consciousness. Thus, the restrictions Rawls introduces for this 'individual'-the lack of particular circumstantial and personal information-is considered a potential problem. The very ways in which Rawls circumscribes the knowledge available in this position is thought to compromise the personhood of the individual there, and hence as well the conclusions reached (that is, Rawls's two principles). This paper will argue that, on the contrary, the lack of full personhood is a critical part of Rawls's modeling strategy, and that Rawls borrowed this particular sense of modeling from economics. It is well known that Rawls worked to verse himself in economic theory, and it is difficult to overlook its use in Theory. It will be argued that it is through parallels with economic reasoning that Rawls's original position model can be most fruitfully understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuestiones Teológicas is the property of Cuestiones Teologicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, we use experimental methods to probe how far individuals depart from choices consistent with "Rational Economic Man" and whether these departures are associated with financial and numeric literature on the one hand, and, more fundamentally, with impulsive or analytical thinking—i.e., with cognitive reflection. We examine a purposely biased sample of Greek undergraduates enrolled in a course heavy on statistics and probability who participated in a battery of tests. Specifically, we use the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) jointly with numeric and financial literacy tools to understand how "irrational choices" result. Despite the expected bias, responders with lower CRT are more likely to be susceptible to behavioral biases, even when controlling for numeracy and financial literacy. In agreement with other studies, gender is associated with significance differences, which operate both independently and through the mediation of CRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that it is a waste of time seeking to treat populists as examples of homo economicus when seeking to persuade them that the conspiracy theories to which they subscribe are big lies. But it does not follow that homo economicus is worthless in this context. He has a role in explaining the evolution of the social norms whose violation is the root cause of the rise of populist movements. Such an approach requires a willingness to entertain both proximate and ultimate explanations of human behaviour simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I deal with the notion of 'academic identity' holistically, seeking to bring together the teacher and researcher roles of academics in the neoliberal university. The article begins from the perspective of early-career academics who occupy the majority of fixed-term, teaching-only contracts in Higher Education, arguing that such casualisation of academic labour entrenches the role of the academic as Homo economicus. Drawing on the work of Foucault, I demonstrate how a neoliberal governmentality is now not only exerted upon academics from without, but increasingly they are subjecting themselves to the logic of efficiency and effectiveness too. The neoliberal governmentality of the university thus influences and shapes academic subjectivities, such that what it means to be an academic is confined to this marketised logic. Despite the pressures placed on academics to 'produce' measurable outputs and demonstrate their impact, I argue that moving beyond Homo economicus is possible, arguing instead for a re-claiming of 'the academic' as Homo academicus. The idea of Homo academicus can only be supported when three conditions are present: collegiality is afforded greater importance than competition; the discourses of 'productivity' and performativity are balanced against simply 'doing good work well' (Pirrie in Virtue and the quiet art of scholarship, Routledge, London, 2019), and; academics are mindful to practice the 'quieter' intellectual virtues, including the virtue of 'unknowing' (Smith in J Philos Educ 50:272–284, 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates distinctiveness of work-related precarity in neoliberal orders by pursuing two main arguments. First, precarity prevailed in pre-welfare state capitalist and current era display marked similarities regarding political ideas and workers' experiences. Second, neoliberal precarity manifests its distinctiveness in the human factor and the socioeconomic circumstances surrounding it. That is, in the previous era of precarity, the labouring men who is in pursuit of social protection and solidarity refused to refashion themselves as homo economicus, thanks to a protective socioeconomic environment where countermovements against the unfolding realities of free-market gathered momentum. In the neoliberal era, incorporation of market values in everyday lives, digital automation and reorganization of the work facilitated the transformation of labouring men into homo economicus, who can function without seeking solidarity and social protection. Thus, neoliberal precarity renders it highly uncertain whether it is possible to re-embed the markets into society in a foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how the various characteristics of Homo economicus (intellectual ability, self‐control, selfishness, fairness and pursuit of monetary gain) correlate with individual performance. We adopted income and happiness as measures of individual performance. Using large‐scale survey data from Japan and the USA, we found that: (i) generally, Homo economicus is an ideal person from the perspective of economic success; (ii) Homo economicus has many traits that make her/him unhappy; (iii) intellectual ability is a strong trait of Homo economicus for both economic success and happiness; and (iv) the results for Japan and the USA are quite similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal behind this article is to develop tools for entrepreneurship analysis and typology. The individual types of entrepreneurship will serve as viable models of economic initiative in the era of SARSCoV-2 pandemic. Therefore, our ambition is to present ideal-type models for ex ante and ex post evaluation of pandemic events. The article is theoretical in nature, and relies on a discussion of specific views, terms and concepts. Through our analysis, we identified four primary models of entrepreneurship with their associated opportunities and risks brought to light by the epidemic developments. Our conceptual evaluation of ideal types of entrepreneurship ultimately leads to the development of a future model. This model is „relational entrepreneurship" which marries social and individual aspirations. In addition, it reconciles two basic forms of utility, economic and moral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written about the fictitious nature of the atomistic model of homo economicus. Nevertheless, this economic model of self-interest and egoism has become conventional wisdom in market societies. This article offers a phenomenological explanation for the model's commonsensical grip. Building on the work of Alfred Schutz, I argue that a reliance on homo economicus as an interpretive scheme for making sense of the behavior of economic Others has the effect of reversing the meaning of signs and doubts that challenge the model's assumptions. Moreover, it orients social action in ways that prevent the model's interpretive incongruences from rising to the reflective fore. Consequently, an interpretive reliance on homo economicus creates a "phenomenological gridlock." Alternative sources of information and alternative interpretive schemes can bypass this entrapment of the economic interaction, but this article further explains why the norms and cultural horizons of market society limit the accessibility of these alternatives, thus, in effect, sedimenting gridlocked experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The homo economicus (Economic Man) concept is one of the best-known components of economic theorising frequently recognised as a part of the “hard core” of the mainstream 20th-century economics. This model gained such a high status in times of the marginal revolution, although it was coined in the 1830s by the classical economist John S. Mill. Nowadays, homo economicus is commonly perceived as a model of rational economic agent maximising utility or preferences. The article aims to show that both the Millian approach and the marginal approach were more complex than the contemporary incarnation of Economic Man. One of the key differences between the early stages in the evolution of homo oeconomicus and the modern version of it refers to the notion of rationality. Whereas it is the constitutive element of the 20th-century homo oeconomicus, the requirement of full rationality was never explicitly articulated by Mill and marginal economists. Therefore, at the early stages of its evolution, the homo economicus model would have been much more resistant to the objections formulated against it by the 20th-century critics.

Copyright of Taiwanese Journal of Sociology is the property of Taiwanese Sociological Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Unless we direct technology, technology will increasingly direct us, with mass un(der)employment and a possible atrophying of the human soul (i.e. human thinking, feeling and will) as likely consequences. The root of such problems is a failure to understand capital fully, itself a consequence of a failure to understand fully the human condition. The solution is to complete today's incomplete theory of capital so that capital can take on its true role as the enabler of human capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article is devoted to the conceptualization of the "new homo economicus" model through the ideas of noospheric human image and noospheric economy. The authors claim that the epoch of noosphere requires a thorough review of human qualities core. It is shown that the image of a "due" economic entity can be based on the model of "homo nooeconomicus", whose key features are determined by the specificities of his worldview, realized from the perspective of the noospheric economic consciousness. The authors show that this form of consciousness provides the reflection and construction of relations between economic agents in the processes of manufacture, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services from the standpoint of fairness and responsibility in order to ensure reasonable sustainable socio-natural and socio-cultural development. It is stated that the cultural centers of the nooeconomic consciousness ensure creative, fair and responsible activity of the "homo nooeconomicus" in the biosphere, sociosphere, technosphere and the sphere of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of the expansion of the economics into other areas of public life has been the subject of intense discussion for more than a century, and modern attempts to conceptualize the complex and multicomponent field of economic relations, both in social and in personal terms, are articulated in the concept of "Homo economicus". The concept of special productivity gains in the context of the application of the methodology of metaphysics. The metaphysics of the economics has a significant potential for the phenomenal and noumenal differentiation, which is extremely important in the era of simulation. Comparing the simulation of the present, the methodology of metaphysics articulates subjectivity in the coordinates of the economics. Such a universal approach allows us to verify the complex problem field of the study "Homo economicus", having carried out its revision (rehabilitation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive economic models aim to provide truthful explanations of significant (aspects of) economic phenomena. While the notion of ‘preferences’ figures prominently in micro-economic models, it suffers from a remarkable lack of conceptual clarity and rigor. After distinguishing narrowhomo economicusmodels (self-interest maximization) from broader ones (preference satisfaction) and rehearsing the criticisms both have met, I go into the most promising attempt to date at addressing them, developed by Hausman. However, his definition of preferences as ‘total comparative evaluations’, I argue, plays into the general disregard that economists have for human psychology. My alternative definition of preferences as ‘overall comparative evaluations’ – and hence as one of themanyfactors that influence people’s behavior – allows for more adequate causal explanations of people’s dutiful, committed, and norm-guided actions. Against Hausman but in agreement with Sen, it also allows for (motivated) counterpreferential choice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers Homo economicus as perfect rationality as well as how the concept of Homo economicus in the sense of perfect rationality is important for futures studies, in particular for predicting a future human image. The author considers the main characteristics of Homo economicus, which are important for futures studies, as well as the concept of future human image and the conception of future human image in futures studies. The research results show that Homo economicus as perfect rationality takes an important place in the futures studies and the conceptions of future human image. It is through its use, future studies are transferred from science fiction to the level of scientific predictions of the future of humanity. Use of Homo economicus as perfect rationality allows the conceptions of future human image to reach the level of scientific prediction; to develop an average ideal image in various scientific disciplines, the achievement of which is directed to technology efforts, as well as personal aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The neoclassical homo economicus has escaped the narrow confines of economic theory and is today embodied countless times over in the everyday behaviour that so much of the modern economy is set up precisely to serve. Not all of the authors of leading books on economic principles have named the neoclassical homo economicus, but when they have done so it is overwhelmingly in the same way. They have given him the human form of a Robinson Crusoe figure, despite the fact that his behavioural motivations and his practical conduct owe next-to-nothing to Daniel Defoe’s original characterisation. I suggest that the route to today’s cultural familiarity with the neoclassical homo economicus instead passes through the entirely unwitting hands of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He substituted Defoe’s account of the castaway’s continuing deference to prevailing social norms with his own idealised vision of how the individual might use solitude to escape the corrupting influences of modern society. It is altogether another desocialised individual also bearing the Crusoe name who has latterly shaped many of the economics textbooks’ renderings of the neoclassical homo economicus. However, we can get to him only by first understanding the essential features of Rousseau’s Crusoe myth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The threat to livelihoods posed by the increased mechanization of labour has led to the question of whether new technologies will eventually render human beings obsolete. However, this immediately raises another more fundamental question: ’what is the function, or utility, of human beings in modern society?’ Mainstream economics and the concept of Homo economicus tells us that human beings are little more than rationally calculating, profit maximizing machines devoted to the accumulation of capital. This paper will argue that the intellectual origins of Homo economicus can be traced to the mechanical philosophies of Descartes, Hobbes, Locke and Newton, and that these philosophies find their expression in the political economy of Adam Smith. It will be shown that the mechanization of labour (along with the subsequent obsolescence of human beings) is a central tenet of classic liberalism, the ends of which is the unceasing increase of capital through the division of labour. In light of this, Ancient Greek conceptions of wealth and economic activity—which prioritize human self-creation and notions of the good life—will be considered as alternatives to the norms presented in classic liberalism. Ultimately, it is argued that in order to avoid being eclipsed by new technologies we must reconsider what it means to be human and in doing so rediscover properly human ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the perspective of using the concept of Homo economicus as a cultural ideal. According to the authors, modern educational technologies must be directed to achieve this cultural ideal. The concept of education is understood by the authors in the classical interpretation, as deliberately molding human character. The authors use the historical method, formalization method and others in this paper. It has been proved that all constructive criticism of old interpretations of the concept of Homo economicus does not deny the possibility of using this term in the foreseeable future. On the contrary, criticism gives new interpretations of Homo economicus, which open up new prospects for using this concept, in particular, as a cultural ideal for educational technologies when creating the "Asgardia" nation state in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to identify whether applying assumptions of consumer behavior in economics or marketing in the tourism context is validated. Therefore, this study investigated whether tourists, as subjects of consumption at a tourism destination, are rational. Also, additional work was performed to identify the determinants in rationality of tourists. Survey research through the three steps of instrument development has been conducted for those who visited the Jeju Island, South Korea. The adequate sample size of 280 pairs was employed for statistical analyses such as a multiple regression analysis. As a result, the study concluded that an application of the assumptions of consumer behavior in economics or marketing to decision-making of tourists’ consumption was inappropriate because the propensity of tourist expenditure at a tourism destination was evidenced as both rational and irrational. More discussion and implications were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the neglected theological origins of early economic discourse. Against accounts emphasizing the secular and scientific foundations of classical political economy, I examine the origins of economic thought in religious debates concerning the nature of human love and divine grace. Specifically, the theorization of what was called “commercial society” in the eighteenth-century depended upon two general theoretical innovations, each of which began in the post-Hobbesian social contract tradition. The first was a conception of theoeconomyunderstood as a domain of non-political “society,” based on pre-political property relations and sub-political voluntary associations of a primarily commercial variety, reflecting divinely ordained social progress. The second was the transformation of the ancient concept ofphiliato stress the self-love underlying all human relationships and the necessary role of divine grace in generating social integration. The idea that an “invisible” mechanism – the market functioning according to God's providential design – makes private vices conduce to public benefit promised an account of social order generated through essentially non-political processes based on a specific political theology. Tracing these ideas from their origins in theological debates through to their appropriation as core features in the analysis of commercial society takes us from a late seventeenth-century theological argument to the late eighteenth-century formalization of a secular model of sociability in classical political economy. In conclusion, I consider how aspects of this early political theology may remain implicit in the modern conception of economic rationality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Journal of Economic & Social Research is the property of Abant Izzet Baysal University, Faculty of Economics & Administrative Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Marketing approach considers that every economic activity has to be directed towards satisfying the consumers' needs and wants, as efficiently as possible. This is sometimes difficult to achieve either because customers may not exactly be aware of their real needs and motivations or because they change their purchase decision at the last minute. Classical economic theory offers the idea that the consumer is a totally rational human being, a kind of "homo economicus," and that his only concern on the market is to act as a robot that maximizes his utility and personal satisfaction by taking the "most rational" decision possible when choosing among the various goods and services available. However, such an approach is contradicted by the marketing theory which tries to get closer to the true nature of human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La corriente principal de la economía se asienta sobre la existencia de un individuo llamado homo economicus. Este individuo se caracteriza principalmente por ser racional, egoísta, falto de empatía, centrado en la maximización de sus beneficios y contar con una información completa. Aunque abundan las publicaciones que critican la existencia real de este ser, este trabajo propone observar la situación desde otro enfoque. Para ello, observa las coincidencias entre el homo economicus y otro perfil muy estudiado en otras disciplinas: la personalidad psicopática. Como resultado, se encuentra una identidad casi perfecta entre ambos. A su vez, se observan deficiencias en el procesamiento de la información y del conocimiento por parte del homo economicus. Estas deficiencias no solo generan perjuicios en los demás, sino que disminuyen el bienestar de este ser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies show that humans tend to be more cooperative than expected given the assumption that they are rational maximizers of personal gain. As a result, theoreticians have proposed elaborated formal representations of human decision-making, in which utility functions including “altruistic” or “moral” preferences replace the purely self-oriented “Homo economicus” function. Here we review mathematical approaches that provide insights into the mathematical stability of alternative utility functions. Candidate utility functions may be evaluated with help of game theory, classical modeling of social evolution that focuses on behavioral strategies, and modeling of social evolution that focuses directly on utility functions. We present the advantages of the latter form of investigation and discuss one surprisingly precise result: “Homo economicus” as well as “altruistic” utility functions are less stable than a function containing a preference for the common welfare that is only expressed in social contexts composed of individuals with similar preferences. We discuss the contribution of mathematical models to our understanding of human other-oriented behavior, with a focus on the classical debate over psychological altruism. We conclude that human can be psychologically altruistic, but that psychological altruism evolved because it was generally expressed towards individuals that contributed to the actor's fitness, such as own children, romantic partners and long term reciprocators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses two books on the continuing global economic crisis that occupy the highly contested intersection between economics and sociology. In exploring the possibilities for progressive alternatives to neoliberal globalization, two leading French theorists, Daniel Cohen and Alain Touraine, both integrate social, political, and cultural factors with economic analysis. Each illustrates how the dominance of financial imperatives has steadily displaced moral considerations, leading to socioeconomic polarization and fragmentation. For Cohen, in his critique of the key neoliberal concept of ‘homo economicus,’ a reassertion of human values of reciprocity and cooperation is required in order to construct a viable postmaterialist project. Touraine proposes a political future based on the enduring principles of human rights, through which a radically progressive individual and global subjectivity can be realized. The essay evaluates the arguments of each theorist, while examining the possibilities for morally informed alternatives to neoliberal globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a key contemporary problem, that of inequality. Certainly, the most visible inequality today is economic inequality, which is not only a characteristic found today, but is also the result of a long historical development. The problem arises when inequality becomes artificial (produces itself) and thus becomes a matter of social sciences and humanities. At this point, the question of economic inequality becomes a non-economic issue and thus opens the possibility of formulating such principles that will be able to reduce the issue to a minimum. This paper discusses this possibility, while referring to Thomas Piketty's book on capital in relation to John Rawls's principles of justice to which Piketty refers to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication through social media. Today, corporations across the world enact CSR campaigns and use social media as one tool to tell their story of social responsibility. Yet, social media's strength as a relationship-building tool is not being realized as CSR activities are often communicated unidirectionally. This essay suggests alternative ways of thinking about social media in CSR. The essay offers a framework for using social media that goes beyond the one-way, monological, Homo Economicus based practices that characterize current social media use in CSR. The perspective proposed, Homo Dialogicus, focuses on interactive communication practices , that will help organizations move forward in building ethical organization–public relationships via social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the use of the homo economicus behavioral model in the constitutional political economy research program. The paper argues that all existing arguments in defense of the behavioral model fail. These arguments are: the symmetry argument, the enterprise argument, the increasing costs argument, and the crowding out argument. As a result, those working in the constitutional political economy tradition are not justified in employing homo economicus, at least not until a new argument successfully defending the behavioral model is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The paper aims to revive the Islamic economic system discourse given the increasing interest in the moral economy agenda. Design/methodology/approach – Proponents of Islamic economics theorise that the Islamic system presents the ideal form of a socio-economic order. However, the reported huge gap between theoretical construct and real activities seems to support the critics’ claim that it is a mere utopian state that directly challenges the viability of the Islamic economy idea. Findings – The fact of the matter is that homo economicus is overpowering homo Islamicus despite the presupposed position of homo Islamicus as the mainstay of Islamic economics. Research limitations/implications – To manifest the Islamic economic system notion further, it is argued that a shariah-based values infusion policy (VIP) needs to be formulated to actualise the predominance of homo Islamicus. Practical implications – Owing to the overarching and holistic nature of the proposed public policy, the operations of individuals, firms and state agencies should have the tendency to reflect the expected behaviour of homo Islamicus better than the present state of affairs. Social implications – The success of the VIP would include the enhancement of social integration and cohesion. Originality/value – The link between moral economy, homo Islamicus and public policy is clearly established. Thus, this research guides policy makers in promoting the Islamic economic system as a universally-aspired moral economy project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the problem of analogies and metaphors in politics, concretely the metaphor of the market and the various analogies it encompasses applied to the political sphere, as a phenomenon of political language and practice. The inspiration behind this article is a sociological critique of the economic theory of politics by Lars Udehn. After forming a basic theoretical framework for the terms analogy and metaphor, the author discusses the problem of methodological inconsistency in the social sciences. The discussion of metaphor is presented in three parts: the inherence of homo economicus in politics, politics as exchange and politics as competition. The crucial thesis of this paper is that there are limitations on the extent to which political processes and phenomena may be understood in market terms, and individual analogies that have emerged from this metaphor are by definition only partially applicable. The conclusion is that the market metaphor presents specific difficulties and is an oversimplification which will lead sooner or later to significant misunderstandings and misinterpretations of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which showed the evolution of Homo economicus to show that selfishness in the history of the economic discipline never constituted the core of the Homo economicus model. Topics include the views of classical economists who thought of Homo economicus as a wealth-seeking animal, the standard version of Homo economicus, and an explanation of why the species Homo economicus and Homo stramineus have often been so confused.

• Resilience was numerically modeled from a dynamic and integrated perspective. • The structure of the model and the social goals for resilience attributes are determinants of behavior. • Response diversity and functional redundancy are the main leverage principles. • Resilience presented strong seasonal behavior. Resilience is understood as a social-ecological system (SES) property that embodies nature and society and a research perspective with high potential to be applied in reaching sustainability goals. A system's property is composed of ecological and social limits representing boundaries that, if trespassed, result in the system's regime change with increasing uncertainties. These changes can impact the reliability of delivering a set of desired ecosystem services, and consequently, society's wellbeing can be negatively affected. Thus, modeling a complex and adaptive SES, with feedback, nonlinearities, and path–dependence becomes a crucial tool to inform building a responsible governance behavior that tackles SES resilience. This work built a prototype model of SES resilience for a case study in a Brazilian coastal city with the following aims: 1) to formalize the principles underpinning resilience into a dynamic index, 2) to assess the extent to which this understanding highlights system interdependencies and tradeoffs, and 3) to learn about the benefits of making quantitative assessments of such socio–institutional principles. Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services – MIMES (Boumans et al., 2015; Oliveira et al., 2022) is a SES modeling framework using System Dynamics that embraces complexities' attributes in an interdisciplinary and integrated model. Constructing a causal loop diagram embracing the social sphere represented by the seven resilience principles proposed by Biggs et al. (2015) , revealed the necessity to include social goals in the model. It was considered that the Homo economicus represents the most common social perspective and determinant for those goals. Ten different types of ecosystem services were extracted from the ecological part of the simulation (Oliveira et al. 2022) and then combined with those seven resilience principles into the Dynamic Resilience Index (DRI) using a Cobb Douglas–like production function. The numerical simulation produced four insights about resilience that are described and discussed: 1st insight: resilience of what to what? The resilience of the whole system in providing a set of Ecosystem Services against changes in slow variables; 2nd insight: resilience presents seasonal variations; 3rd insight: the system is operating as if it is in the K phase during ecological succession; 4th insight: not all resilience principles have the same weight in resilience. Conclusions point out that resilience can present seasonal variations, and that response diversity and functional redundancy are leverage principles with higher influence in resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]