December 17, 2007
Neoclassical economics dominates political life and public policy. The school of law and economics tries to hide its own conservative norms and larger political agenda behind a mask of positivism and so-called objectivity. It presupposes the sovereign, autonomous, individual, white male agent and dichotomizes the human agent into a "separatist" self (based on the self-interested, profit-maximizing, autonomous individual in the market) and a "soluble" self (who is completely altruistic, empathetic, selfless, and connected with the family). Its politics is one of the rolling back of social welfare programs in the name of "efficiency" (a key goal of neoclassical economics) and is inherently political as it involves the withering away of the welfare state.
Despite these kinds of philosophical critiques neo-classical economics remains hegemonic.
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