Is it ethical to teach pluralist economics curricula, particularly in the Global South?

Michelle Meixieira Groenewald

Chapter 7 in Handbook of Teaching Ethics to Economists, 2023, pp 90-112 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Over the past few decades a large number of contributions have been made to justify and legitimize the importance of pluralism in economics. Building upon these important debates has encouraged vital reformation of economics curricula and broader pedagogical practices. This chapter contributes to the pedagogical discourse, by putting forward the proposition that it is ethical to teach economics curricula that are pluralist. It is argued that this is important everywhere, and particularly so in the Global South, across various underlying ethical frameworks. Whether one considers this from a utilitarian, deontological or virtue ethics framework, ethical pluralism can allow for all three of these to be applied as a lens of analysis to guide us in the pursuit of teaching pluralist economics curricula. It will be demonstrated that a pluralist curriculum can give students, lecturers, and society greater utility. From a deontological perspective, it is the duty of lecturers to foster epistemic freedom. Drawing from a virtue ethics framework, pluralist pedagogy requires at the very least, the virtue of tolerance, whilst the virtues of African ethics emphasise the importance of community which could be applied to a pluralist pursuit of economics curricula reform. The chapter concludes that these arguments are particularly important in the context of the current students in the Global South who will become future economists. In order to better grapple with damaging dominant ideas often coming from the Global North, students should be exposed to a plurality of economic ideas, to be better equipped to push back on sometimes narrow and insular views on economic policy.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Teaching Methods; General Academic Interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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