From Classical Political Economics to Neoclassical (Mainstream) Economics: The Ideological Reproduction and Depoliticization Process of Economics

Abstract

The first school of thought that allowed economics to be treated as a separate discipline was classical economics, known as classical political economy. Classical economics is described as the science of distribution. However, the extent to which science prioritises distributional dynamics is debatable. On the other hand, after the marginalist revolution in the 1870s, the birth of neoclassical economics led to the separation of economics from social sciences. Pure economic logic has separated the economy from society, politics, and all kinds of social factors and put it into positive sciences that operate with an autonomous mechanism within itself. In this way, it is thought that it is aimed to exclude the secrets that can question the structural depth and distribution dynamics of the capitalist system. In all these contexts, the ideological-based reproduction and depoliticisation process of classical and neoclassical economics will be discussed within a historical materialist framework. Thus, it is thought that it will be possible to reveal the theoretical and ideological realities behind the visible faces of classical economics, characterised as classical political economy and neoclassical economics, known as mainstream economics.