Behind the Veil of Economics: Essays in the Worldly Philosophy
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- £11.99
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
"[These essays] are rich in argument, in clear and provocative presentation of complicated issues, and are often delightfully quotable. Behind the Veil of Economics makes instructive, disturbing, and lively reading." —Elizabeth Wolgast, New York Times Book Review
What lies behind the veil of economics? Power and ideology, answers Robert Heilbroner—the power of our economic involvement in society to shape the ways we think about it; the visions and values that add unsuspected ideological color to our economic beliefs about it. Most important, Heilbroner shows why economics has become the reigning form of social inquiry and how we might penetrate its mystique.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Because we take our economic system as a given, it spreads an ideological veil that shields from our view the true nature of capitalist exploitation and regimentation. This metaphor loosely links these eight scholarly essays from the author of The Worldly Philosophers. Heilbroner argues that the wage-labor relationship serves a political function by disciplining the work force. He probes the contradiction between work as a value-creating activity and a submissive routine. To lift the veil of economics-as-usual, he turns to Adam Smith, who clearly saw the psychological underpinnings of the class system, to Marx's value theory and to Joseph Schumpeter's analysis of the entrepreneurial spirit. This slight collection includes three new essays and five pieces reworked or reprinted from journals and Heilbroner's other books.
