Stephen Marglin's The Dismal Science is a beautifully written and powerfully argued book that shows how the ideology of economics has justified and supported the trend towards selfishness and hyper-individualism in advanced societies. -- Bianca Jagger In this timely and eloquent critique of the conventional economist's "ideology of knowledge," Stephen Marglin pinpoints a huge blind spot at the heart of this powerful discipline. They can't see community. It's not that the people of the earth are, for the economist, bereft of community. It's that he imagines them as interest-maximizing tin men who don't need it. So as Wal-Mart mows down local communities in America and NAFTA mows them down in rural Mexico, the conventional economist stands silent on this issue. Economists and non-economists alike should read this book, and pass it around to friends in their community--if it's still there. -- Arlie Russell Hochschild, University of California, Berkeley and author of The Time Bind and The Commercialization of Intimate Life A brilliantly reasoned and long overdue expose of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of conventional economic thinking. If you are concerned about the decline of community and moral standards in public life, read this book. -- David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community and When Corporations Rule the World With breathtaking range, Stephen Marglin brilliantly turns the world of economics upside-down as he reveals the roots of economics in the Western myth of modernity and the destruction of community. At once analytical and intuitive, Marglin unites the talents of an economist, a storyteller's humor and a skeptical mind to offer a new way of thinking about economy and economics. -- Stephen Gudeman, University of Minnesota The Dismal Science is a profound critique of economics by one of its own. It could not be more timely--the breakdown of human connection is arguably the most serious problem facing humanity, as it underlies other ills such as violence, environmental degradation and inequality. Stephen Marglin has produced a beautifully written and penetratingly intelligent argument about the role of the market in that process. -- Juliet Schor, Boston College and author of The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
Stephen A. Marglin is the Walter Barker Professor of Economics at Harvard University. His books include The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community and Growth, Distribution, and Prices. He is a past Guggenheim Fellow and member of the Harvard Society of Fellows.
Stephen Marglin makes a powerful and convincing argument for how
thinking like an economist undermines community. Suddenly, the
choices of those who reject global capitalism seem far more
reasonable, because the globalization of capital brings with it the
economistic thinking that destroys local values, forcing us to
choose between material prosperity and spiritual health. Yet this
tension is made invisible by a pseudo-universal ideology about
human nature. Marglin thus provides a persuasive foundation for the
Politics of Meaning.
*Tikkun*
This is an exceptionally learned, uncompromisingly contrarian
critique of markets and economics by a member of the Department of
Economics at Harvard University. Stephen Marglin emphasizes the
costs of market transactions and blames economics for supplying the
associated frame of reference. The Dismal Science is patently the
result of a lifetime of reading and cogitating about conceptual
issues related to market exchanges and economists’ approaches to
them. Some historical background is given but what is mainly
offered is extended commentary on the history of thought and on
everyday practice.
*EH.net*
Marglin’s demonstration of the relationship between mainstream
economics and the destruction of communities is seductive,
convincing, and well documented.
*Irish Times*
With breathtaking range, Stephen Marglin brilliantly turns the
world of economics upside-down as he reveals the roots of economics
in the Western myth of modernity and the destruction of community.
At once analytical and intuitive, Marglin unites the talents of an
economist, a storyteller’s humor and a skeptical mind to offer a
new way of thinking about economy and economics.
*Stephen Gudeman, University of Minnesota*
In this timely and eloquent critique of the conventional
economist’s ‘ideology of knowledge,’ Stephen Marglin pinpoints a
huge blind spot at the heart of this powerful discipline. They
can’t see community. It’s not that the people of the earth are, for
the economist, bereft of community. It’s that he imagines them as
interest-maximizing tin men who don’t need it. So as Wal-Mart mows
down local communities in America and NAFTA mows them down in rural
Mexico, the conventional economist stands silent on this issue.
Economists and non-economists alike should read this book, and pass
it around to friends in their community—if it’s still there.
*Arlie Russell Hochschild, University of California, Berkeley,
author of The Time Bind and The Commercialization of
Intimate Life*
Stephen Marglin’s The Dismal Science is a beautifully written and
powerfully argued book that shows how the ideology of economics has
justified and supported the trend towards selfishness and
hyper-individualism in advanced societies.
*Bianca Jagger*
A brilliantly reasoned and long overdue expose of the intellectual
and moral bankruptcy of conventional economic thinking. If you are
concerned about the decline of community and moral standards in
public life, read this book.
*David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to
Earth Community and When Corporations Rule the
World*
The Dismal Science is a profound critique of economics by one of
its own. It could not be more timely—the breakdown of human
connection is arguably the most serious problem facing humanity, as
it underlies other ills such as violence, environmental degradation
and inequality. Stephen Marglin has produced a beautifully written
and penetratingly intelligent argument about the role of the market
in that process.
*Juliet Schor, Boston College, author of The Overspent American:
Why We Want What We Don’t Need*
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