ABSTRACT
The most common criticism of traditional economics is that it is over-simplistic in its specific rational choice perspective of human drivers and interests. This criticism has been around for several decades. It is many times fussy, since it attacks different rational choice assumptions at the same time. As I have already mentioned, the most common criticism of traditional economics concerns the notion of Homo economicus. This notion contends that humans are to the core consciously planning, sufficiently knowledgeable, individualistic, egoistic, and prioritising manifest (most often material) interests. Market interaction between firms would not be possible if humans thought and acted in this way, the social and evolutionary scientists Johnson, Price, and Van Vugt (2013) contend. By definition, a firm is an organisation comprised of people, and necessitates a degree of self-sacrifice and altruism among these people in order to function. Social and evolutionary scientists are not the only ones strongly opposed to this view. Certain parts of contemporary economics are so as well. A few decades ago, the institutional economist, Sen, writes an article called ‘Rational Fools’. There he states that
The purely economic man is indeed close to being a social moron. Economic theory has been much preoccupied with this rational fool decked in the glory of his one all-purpose preference ordering. To make room for the different concepts related to his behaviour we need a more elaborate structure.
