
Modern Economics and Social Reality
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 15. October 2026
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-041-09727-3 (ISBN)
Description
Tony Lawson is among the most influential economists of his generation. He has reclaimed a place for explicit, sustained, ontological analysis in economics demonstrating how its decades- long neglect has hampered the discipline. Regarding social theorising more generally, Lawson has been centrally involved in developing a compelling account of the very nature of social reality (systematised as social positioning theory), showing how it can sponsor powerful new treatments of the nature of money, corporations and gender. He has also engaged in ethical theorising to explore possibilities for emancipatory change. For those seeking a relevant approach to economics specifically, or indeed social theorising in general, his work has been agenda-setting.
The essays in this volume have been written in Tony Lawson's honour. Leading heterodox economists, social theorists and legal scholars engage constructively and critically with Lawson's landmark contributions. The essays explore: cutting edge developments in social ontology, issues at the interface between ontology, economics and ethics and topics concerning the state and history of economics. Collectively the essays demonstrate that the perspectives Lawson outlines have critical purchase upon an extraordinary range of vital contemporary issues.
The book will interest those searching for new relevant directions in social theory and philosophy and all concerned with the future (and history) of economics.
The essays in this volume have been written in Tony Lawson's honour. Leading heterodox economists, social theorists and legal scholars engage constructively and critically with Lawson's landmark contributions. The essays explore: cutting edge developments in social ontology, issues at the interface between ontology, economics and ethics and topics concerning the state and history of economics. Collectively the essays demonstrate that the perspectives Lawson outlines have critical purchase upon an extraordinary range of vital contemporary issues.
The book will interest those searching for new relevant directions in social theory and philosophy and all concerned with the future (and history) of economics.
Reviews / Votes
"Everyone seeking approaches to economics that are more relevant to our age of crises, dislocations and deepening inequalities should read this book. It explores and extends the implications of Tony Lawson's concept of economies as rooted in social relations and offers hope in seeing individuals as capable of caring, trust and co-operation."Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex.
"Deploying the critical realist approach to social ontology as foundation, this collection offers original reflections on social positioning, critical ethical naturalism and feminist economics, alongside critique of mainstream economics and friendly engagement with heterodoxy and history of thought. As such it is a magnificently fitting acknowledgement of Tony Lawson's continuing intellectual legacy - compulsive, compulsory reading."
Ben Fine, Emeritus Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
"Published exactly 30 years after his seminal Economics and Reality (1997), this collection is a fitting tribute to Tony Lawson and the many contributions he has made over a long and enormously productive career. The chapters - almost all by economists, social theorists, and legal scholars affiliated with the Cambridge Social Ontology Group he continues to lead - explore the principal themes that have defined his work: economic methodology, the history of economic ideas and alternative schools of thought, ethical naturalism, social ontology, and especially social positioning theory. What is striking about these contributions is that they are so clearly part of a living conversation, and thereby as much a contribution to as a celebration of various facets of Lawson's wide-ranging and influential intellectual programme."
Jochen Runde, Professor of Economics and Organisation, University of Cambridge.
"For decades, Tony Lawson has challenged mainstream economics' notoriously complacent attitude to its philosophical and methodological foundations and its tenuous relation to real world economic processes. He has built up not only an alternative realist philosophy and social theory, but a community of researchers committed to building a soundly grounded understanding of economic reality. Here some of those scholars come together to honour this achievement and further the project through critiques and extensions of his work."
Andrew Sayer, Emeritus Professor of Social Theory and Political Economy, Lancaster University.
"The play of curiosity and sustained critical reasoning - this book celebrates and interrogates their combination and embodiment in Tony Lawson's exemplary scholarship, from the critique of mathematical modelling, through the development of social positioning theory, to his advocacy of critical ethical naturalism."
Hugh Willmott, Professor of Management, City University London.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic and Postgraduate
Illustrations
1 s/w Zeichnung, 2 s/w Tabellen, 1 s/w Abbildung
2 Tables, black and white; 1 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-041-09727-3 (9781041097273)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ioana Negru is a Reader in Economics with Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu and she has extensive experience in teaching economics within United Kingdom and Romania.
Stephen Pratten is Professor of Economics and Philosophy, King's Business School, King's College London. He is co-executive editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics and one of the founding members of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group.
Yannick Slade-Caffarel is Associate Professor at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University and a member of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group.
Stephen Pratten is Professor of Economics and Philosophy, King's Business School, King's College London. He is co-executive editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics and one of the founding members of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group.
Yannick Slade-Caffarel is Associate Professor at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University and a member of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group.
Editor
SOAS, UK
King's Business School,King's College London,Bush House,30 Aldwych,London, WC2B 4BG
PHARE, Maison des sciences economiques, 106 Boulevard de l'Hopital, 75013 Paris, France
Content
Tony Lawson: Criticism and curiosity in the pursuit of relevance 1. Commodification and Social Positioning 2. Social Positioning Theory and the Nature of Gender 3. Social Ontology and the Fiduciary: Under-labouring for the Relational Non-ideal 4. When is a Photocopier not a Photocopier? Identity Problems in the Philosophy of Artefacts 5. Law and Social Positioning Theory 6. Taking Social Positioning Theory Further 7. Attending to Critical Ethical Naturalism: The Ethical Underpinnings of Economics and Reality and their importance for understanding Cambridge Social Ontology 8. Capitalism through the lenses of social positioning theory and critical ethical naturalism 9. Give a Shit: Lawson on Critical Ethical Naturalism and Singer on Famine 10. Social Ontology and the Possibility of Emancipatory Social Change and Human Flourishing 11. Ontology, Epistemology and Standpoint: Tony Lawson on Feminist Economics 12. Preconceptions of Original Institutional Economics: Tony Lawson's contribution to a reconsideration of original institutional economics' ontology and methodology 13. How Re-conceptualising the social world as an `Economic World? contributes to unrealistic models 14. Mathematics and Economics: Tony Lawson Re-considered 15. Causation in Lawson's Social Ontology 16. A note on Economics and Reality and the teaching of the History of Economic Thought Index