The Economy in Society

The notion that when governments regulate the economy they are ‘intervening’ or ‘interfering’ in an otherwise natural, self-regulating sphere is ubiquitous in mainstream economic commentary. Such a notion has its roots in orthodox neoclassical economics which has historically assumed that the economy and society are separate and antithetical spheres of human conduct. This is demonstrably not the case and the economy is fundamentally socially embedded.

This book introduces a range of heterodox traditions of economic thought – Keynesian, Institutional, Marxist and Feminist – which offer alternative understanding of the economy. It explores the insights gleaned from these traditions including the social relations of production at the heart of capitalist economies; the essential role of institutions such as states and firms; the role of social expectations and norms in structuring economic behaviour; the way that gender shapes the distribution of economic resources; processes of commodification; and the way in which ‘social structures of accumulation’ provide stability and order to capitalist economies over time. Offering a critical perspective, the book also explores the contradictions and within and between each of these traditions.

Written in an accessible form, this text provides readers with the tools with which to view markets as underpinned by a range of social institutions – including state regulations, class and gender relations as well as social norms – and thus to counter the mystifications of orthodox economics with a more realistic appreciation of how economies are actually constituted in practice.