Post-modernism Economics And Knowledge

It is only in the last 20 years of the 20th-century that the debates surrounding modernism and postmodernism have emerged within the discipline of economics. This new way of thinking moves beyond the prior emphasis of the philosophy of science: challenging the belief in the progressivity and modernity of economics and rejecting claims that science and mathematics provide the only models for the structure of economic knowledge. This volume brings together the essays of theorists to debate issues in the following areas: modernism and postmodernism; reading, symbols, changing subjects and discerning bodies in economic discourse; gendered subjectivities in neoclassical economics; feminist/postmodern economics; postmodernism, economic rationality and the problem of representation ; is there a (postmodern) alternative in economics?; and from markets to gifts. Postmodernism, Economics and Knowledge does not require the reader to have an economics background; it is an accessible text providing a broad view of each topic, followed by a critique and comment to end each section. It should serve as a useful reference tool for all those studying postmodernism and the history of economic thou Review: All of the contributions are interesting and worth reading...anyone interested in postmodernism and its place in modern social theory would find this book a valuable introduction. It would be a good ancillary text for a history of economic thought course as well. -Christopher J. Niggle, University of Redlands, for Journal of Economic Issues, September 2002