ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 we have already discussed the ontological core of the Schumpeterian economic system of thought as one of four combinations of monistic/dualistic ontology and Darwinian/generic heuristics, where we associated Schumpeter with a dualistic ontology expressed through generic heuristics. This section of course follows up on the previously elaborated outline, but enters the theoretical realm of heuristic projections. Concerning Schumpeter heuristics we discuss his concept of development and change as an evolutionary system as well as the role of the entrepreneur in his business-cycle theory. Then we focus on two timeless hard cores within Schumpeter heuristics, i.e. the interrelation between credit, institutions and capital; and the issue of technological change. insofar as we highlight the sociological components of his generic evolutionary theory of innovation. The drive in Schumpeter's economy comes from within the society and attaches the puzzle of economic evolution to the sociology of the economic system. Most references to Schumpeter's treatment of social institutions or economic sociology in particular relate to Schumpeter's History of Economic Analysis (1954). Arena (2008, p. 71) also starts his analysis with Schumpeter's separation in economic history, statistics and theory. Arena highlights that Schumpeter conceived the science of organization as a part of economic sociology, indicating the need for an institutional theory of economic change.
First, economic sociology must ‘generalize’, ‘typify’ and ‘stylize’ the empirical forms of institutions and organizations in order to transform the historical set from which they are drawn into a more abstract set of ideal types on which the economist can then build his analytical assumptions.
(Arena 2008, p. 72)