ABSTRACT
The most prominent aspect of the current financial crisis is its systemic character which manifests itself in high levels of inequality, rampant unemployment, economic and social insecurity and environmental decay. This book explores the potential of a pluralistic and interdisciplinary approach for a deeper understanding of the manifold aspects of the economic crisis.
This book examines the potential of a number of contributions from heterodox economics and psychoanalysis in providing a deeper understanding of these problems. The book analyses some of the most debated aspects of the concepts of market, democracy and socialism and explores the role of structural ties between economic, social and psychological aspects of collective life. It also addresses the main economic aspects of the crisis and pays particular attention to a number of structural imbalances, and to the psychological interpretation of these phenomena.
By drawing together approaches from heterodox economics and psychoanalysis, this book adopts a pluralist and interdisciplinary approach to the study of these phenomena and manages to overcome the fragmentation so often present in social sciences.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|52 pages
The psychoanalytic approach and its potential for a better understanding of economic and social phenomena
chapter 2|10 pages
Implications for the study of economic and social phenomena
chapter 3|14 pages
Psychoanalysis and social change
chapter 4|10 pages
Some controversial aspects of psychoanalysis
part II|54 pages
The perspective of institutional economics and its potential for a better understanding of economic and social phenomena
chapter 6|16 pages
Veblen's evolutionary perspective
chapter 7|9 pages
Commons's theory of collective action
part III|26 pages
The institutional analysis of the market and the interdisciplinary approach to social evolution
chapter 9|12 pages
The market in the heterodox perspective
chapter 10|12 pages
The role of ‘materialistic' and psychological factors in social evolution
part IV|34 pages
The economic and psychological aspects of the crisis of today
chapter 11|11 pages
The role of policy co-ordination in structural problems
chapter 12|12 pages
Public spending and credit creation as the drivers of aggregate demand
chapter 13|9 pages
Economic and psychological implications
part V|18 pages
The structural transformation of economic systems and the social and psychological implications