Abstract
In order to investigate into the understanding of the economic dimension in political science, five American introductory texts in Political Science have been analyzed. Textbooks explicitly and implicitly tell us how ‘science’ is done within the trade. The main results are that:
· the economic dimension is dominated by 58 broader political-economic debates
· economic (neoclassical) theory is only used to a very limited extent
· the presentation of neoclassical theory is surprisingly critical.
As neoclassical theory is the only economic theory presented the reader is given the impression that the law of supply and demand also rules in real life with only occasional political interference. However, in the real mixed economy the so-called law plays a more limited role while politics is the major driving force and constitutes a major part of the ‘economy’. This real mixed economy could be accounted for in a more satisfactory way by incorporating alternative economic theories as well as a broader spectre of mainstream views - not included in economic textbooks - into future political science textbooks.
Translated title of the contribution | Stuck Between the Theoretical Market Economy and the Real Mixed Economy:: An Analysis of Five American Textbooks in Political Science |
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Original language | Danish |
Journal | Tidsskriftet Politik |
Volume | Årgang 11 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 84-94 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 1604-0058 |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |