ABSTRACT
We offer a set of heuristics to provide a holistic analysis of socio-ecological transformation. These heurists enable a different kind of political economy analysis through, firstly, focusing on the social structure of the economy. Institutional change (or inertia, for that matter) is, in the Veblean tradition, related to habits and modes of human behaviour. The crucial element in this process is given by the habits of thought that are forced to adapt to a continuously changing institutional landscape. This forms an integral part of any analysis of socio-ecological transformation; in our case, this is especially applied to the manner in which social science is conducted. Secondly, the co-evolution of nature-society relationships needs to be considered when understanding the economy as an open system. This aspect implies that economic processes are ontologically part of evolutionary change and are thereby irreversible by nature. Thirdly, power relations cannot be disregarded. The starting point for an analysis of transformation dynamics is given by conflict and power relations rather than harmony and consensus in both the institutionalist and Marxist tradition.
