Pluralistic Economy Research Articles

Against the extremes: Simmel’s social and economic pluralism

ABSTRACT We live in times of increasing polarization in which the margins of the political spectrum begin to dominate our social imagination again. While the neoliberal iteration of the capitalist project suggests extreme individualism as the normative default position, the devastating impact of the globalized economy on many has reignited the pursuit of socialist alternatives. In this constellation, Simmel's social theory of modernity can be a useful resource to undercut the return of the old battle between opposite economic systems. This paper argues that two kinds of pluralism can be derived from his conceptualization of the social effects of the money economy. In contrast to one-size-fits-all concepts of freedom, Simmel embraces a social pluralism which acknowledges a plurality of cultural spheres as relevant for the self-actualization of modern individuals, attributing different combinations of independence and embeddedness to them. Moreover, he rejects the social extremes of socialism and individualism since they fail to properly integrate individual freedom into the social whole without undermining it. Instead, Simmel gives us the vision of a pluralist economy in which democratic worker's cooperatives are combined with an overall liberal market to satisfy both the longing for community and the endeavour for individual distinction.

The Pluralist Economy in Africa: A Study of the Relationship between Economic Complexity and the Life Ladder

This study finds a significant correlation between economic complexity and the life ladder in Africa, using data from the World Development Indicators (2022), World Happiness Report (2023) and Observatory of Economic Complexity (2023) over the period 2000 to 2021. The FGLS estimation method shows that economic complexity has a positive impact on the life ladder of African populations. These findings underscore the importance of governments implementing economic policies that prioritise the strengthening of economic complexity, thereby promoting the life ladder of individuals in Africa. Key measures to achieve this goal include promoting economic diversification, investing in education and training, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, promoting regional integration, improving infrastructure and technological accessibility, and establishing robust social protection systems. The adoption and implementation of these policies will be critical to increasing the overall life ladder of Africa's population while promoting sustainable economic development.

Protectionism of incompetence as a factor in blocking the improvement of the quality for domestic higher education

Protectionism of incompetence as a factor in blocking the improvement of the quality for domestic higher education

Elusive Domination and the Fate of Critique in Neo-participative Management: A French Pragmatist Approach

In this theoretical paper we investigate how domination has adapted to the new social settings of a flexible and pluralist economy. Building on French pragmatic sociology, we propose an understanding of organizational domination whereby workers are enabled and encouraged to overtly express critique, yet work is nevertheless effectively obtained from dominated actors. Domination is here mainly understood as a system through which workers are engaged in action despite critiquing that action. We propose the concept of elusive domination as a combination of three mechanisms that undermine critique’s capacity to influence organizational power arrangements. First, ideological plasticity allows elusive domination to disarm critique by depriving it of its argument. Next, a combination of fast-changing rules and sacrosanct conventions prevents critique from settling, and thus deprives it of its object. Finally, emotions displayed in the workplace are filtered. The encouragement of positive and constructive critique coupled with the repression of uncomfortable feelings deprives critique of its source of indignation. The consequences of such developments for current debates on organizational domination are discussed.

La economía solidaria colombiana en el contexto de la globalización

Globalization, understood as a process of integration of both economies and societies, has led to certain changes that are not always positive in the countries, mainly in developing countries. Attitudes towards the effects of globalization have been diverse, but this article focuses on an alternative for 21st century organizations: the solidarity economy model, which can contribute to build the social fabric, to conceive fair social relationships and consolidate a pluralist economy. In particular, the role of cooperatives in the local environment is reviewed, also their ability to formulate adjustments that make them viable for their members and that allow the development of mechanisms that bring them closer to the consumers of their goods and services.

Planification et régulation dans les économies socialistes : pour une théorie de la valeur comptable

Planning and Control in the Socialist Economies: a Theory of Accounting Value. Starting from the general proposition that the Soviet type economy is one characterised by a system of accounting value, i.e. by a set of norms aimed at ensuring external control over the behaviour of units organised in a hierarchical structure of dependence, the article attempts to show what are the essential relationships underpinning the Soviet type of organisation and its concomitant method of evaluation, and also to relate analytically the actual degrees of autonomy and subordination of the units of production. The models of the Soviet economy, as a command or pluralist economy, are then seen as inadequate, while the second economy becomes an informal connterpart closely interwoven with the pattern of formal economic activity.

State and Local Government Productivity and the Private Sector

The potential for improving state and local government productivity through more effective relationships with the sector is limited by inadequate understanding of the nature of the private sector. Rather than suggest a single theory or set of definitions, this analysis works from three different perceptions of economic activity in a state or local jurisdiction: that of a market economy; a pluralistic economy; and a holistic economy. None of these three perceptions is necessarily the correct one; each probably describes some aspects of economic behavior in various jurisdictions more usefully-for the purpose of improving public productivity-than a single model that attempts to synthesize all three. Each perception also suggests a somewhat different definition of public productivity.

The Pluralistic Economy of the U.S.

The Pluralistic Economy of the U.S.

General Equilibrium in a Pluralistic Economy

AN IMPORTANT FEATURE of modern pluralistic societies is the presence of interest groups whose behavior is a major determinant of economic and political life. Individual citizens tend to form themselves into pressure groups largely along socio-economic lines, whose purpose (whether stated or not) is to pursue the interests of their members in whatever instances may arise. Such groups as trade unions, industrialist associations, political parties, tax payers associations, chambers of commerce, farmers associations, local governments, etc., may all be considered-to a higher or lower extent-as pressure groups. The classical views on pressure groups are due to Bentley [4], Key [20], Lindblom [22] and Truman [30]. An economic theory of pressure groups has been recently developed by Olson [25]. The aim of this paper is to discuss a model of an economy in a pluralistic society that includes a private and a public sector. All decision in the private sector are taken by individual economic agents via a market mechanism. There is a central government coordinates the production of public goods and levies taxes but does not intervene directly in the decisions concerning the size of the budget and the allocation of public expenditure. Such decisions, instead, emerge as the outcome of a bargaining process among the various pressure groups, one of could be the central government itself. Thus, the body politic is regarded as a coalition of groups of divergent interests cooperate in the provision of public goods to themselves. The approach followed here is strictly a descriptive one, e.g., the question is being addressed is how does such a mixed economy work? It is therefore quite different from the traditional approach of public finance and of the theory of public expenditure as expressed in the works of Bergson [5] and Samuelson [26], where the normative motive has been predominant. In those contexts it is necessary to introduce a social welfare function in order to define optimality. Here no social welfare function is assumed to exist ex-ante. Such a question as which social welfare function is revealed by the observation of decisions in the public sector? is relevant but not my main concern. Whereas the choice of the social welfare function is a political act presupposes some political process behind it, such processes have seldom been the concern of economists, save a few exceptions. The best bridge between the ideals established in the framework of welfare economics and the pull and pushes recognized by institutional political approaches is provided by a paper by Bowen [7], proposes a voting procedure intended to perform the same functions in the political sphere that competitive markets perform in the economic one. My own interest is in that vein, although I have preferred to stress the bargaining process

Professor Wright on the Pluralistic Economy

Professor Wright on the Pluralistic Economy

Economic Experiences with the Pluralistic Economy

Economic Experiences with the Pluralistic Economy

Government in a Pluralistic Economy

Government in a Pluralistic Economy

Structure of a Pluralistic Economy

(1956). Structure of a Pluralistic Economy. Review of Social Economy: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 14-30.