Dialectics, Functionalism, and Structuralism, in Economic Thought

Siegfried G. Karsten

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1983, vol. 42, issue 2, 179-192

Abstract: Abstract. “Structuralism” and “functionalism” facilitate an analysis of the evolution oi economic thought as a series of cultural, institutional, and socioeconomic challenges and responses. The methodologies of “structuralism” and “functionalism,” like Hegelian dialectics, 1 to which they are closely related, do not consider thought systems or socioeconomic systems in terms of fixed and stable relationships but in the light of dynamic processes of change. They emphasize communication, feedback, and continuity. The aim of these methodologies is to facilitate the analyses of changes in interrelationships which constitute the processes of evolution. The economist is concerned with the theoretical analysis of socioeconomic processes. His task can be facilitated by describing and analyzing structural‐functional relationships of the economy and its parts. However, the methodologies of structuralism and functionalism cannot be used to predict theoretical developments. At best they can be utilized to select from some set of possible alternatives.

Date: 1983
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