----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Warren Samuels wrote : If you think of sociology as dealing with large and small structures of interpersonal relationships, the sociology of economics has to do with the study of the organization of economists, e.g., their socialized motivations, hierarchical structure of esteem and sacrifice, and so on. It is an aspect of the methodology of economics, an aspect of the social nature and structure of science, an aspect of the study of economists as sets of interrelationships. And in another context he said of Pat Gunning's comment that" the methodology of economics, by my definition, refers to the study of the unified method of reasoning." TOO EXCLUSIVIST FOR MY TASTE AS SOCIOLOGY OF ECONOMICS; HENCE, AN EXAMPLE OF HOW PREMISES AND PRECONCEPTIONS INFLUENCE FINDINGS If it is not too late to add to the thread, I would like to suggest a feminist perspective in an excellent article by Diana Strassmann: "Feminist Thought and Economics; What Do the Visigoths Know?" in AER, vol.84, no. 2, May 1994. By applying feminist perspective to the sociology of economics partially captured in Warren Samuel's first statement above, she writes about feminist and critical interpretative theories and about "situated knowledge". According to her [This] "conception characterizes knowledge as inextricably linked to the lives of its producers and the circumstances of its production, and not an independent object., theoretically ascertainable through a purely "objective" process. According to these theories, intellectual communities tend to reproduce themselves in their own image via the selection and training of prospective members, and through the restrictions on the rhetoric of inquiry." Her analysis is relevant also to the status of HET in the economics discipline and education. Strassmann finds the need to use theories of knowledge that bring hidden interests and values into relief [this follows the line of thought in Warren's second statement above] and claims that this does not negate the validity of a sorting process to produce a generally acceptable scientific discourse. Not surprisingly, she concludes by advancing the need for opening the disciplinary gates which would make economics more honest. I feel that if sociology of economics is taught in the economics departments, we may produce better economists by deepening their understanding of their own humanity, not to mention an appropriate reduction in their well know hubris. Sumitra ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]