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Identifier

000439795

Title

Power, science and economic subject : the case of behavioural economics

Alternative Title

Εξουσία, επιστήμη και το οικονομικό υποκείμενο : η περίπτωση των συμπεριφορικών οικονομικών

Author

Παπαδαντωνάκης, Παναγιώτης

Thesis advisor

Μυλωνάκης Δημήτρης

Reviewer

Λαπατσιώρας Σπύρος
Ζουμπουλάκης Μιχάλης

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the link between scientific analysis and power relations in economics. More specifically, this paper focuses on the position of the subject in economic thought and theory from classical political economy to contemporary economics, outlining the interaction of economics and other disciplines, psychology in particular. The main part critically assesses the field of behavioural economics, a purported alternative to neoclassical economics. Behavioural economics, drawing from fields such as cognitive psychology claims ‘novel’ knowledge on economic behaviour, proposing a re-construction of the field of social action. The paper’s theoretical framework is based on the work of Michel Foucault on science, power and the subject. Concepts such as governmentality, discipline, subjection and biopolitics are employed to analyse the functionality of behavioural economics, both in terms of knowledge formation and in terms of the reproduction of power relations. The core argument is that behavioural economics is a mode of power, part of the broader governance of the economic subject and the population. Accordingly, the paper presents and examines specific strategies, techniques, and operations of governing.

Language

Greek

Subject

Behavioural economics

Economic subject

Economics

Power

Εξουσία

Οικονομική επιστήμη

Οικονομικό υποκείμενο

Συμπεριφορικά οικονομικά

Issue date