 Economics, the hegemony of the social science and societyGeorge Kararach () Chapter 1 in Liberating Economics From Ideologies and Dystopia, 2025, pp 18-30 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: The elevated status of economics as a science, with its emphasis on equilibrium and the optimisation of resource utilisation for individual and social well-being, has had a significant influence on society. The idea that economics guides society to make appropriate judgements on the utilisation of scarce resources to optimise individual and social well-being has had hypnotic effects on society itself despite glaring shortfalls. “Economic growth” – and the attendant rise in consumption possibilities – is widely regarded as a key policy goal and dubbed the “most important idea of the 20th century”. This development is, however, a result of the cult elevation of economics without critical examination of what constitutes the economy and its dynamics. Moreover, neoliberal economics prioritises the distribution and consumption of scarce resources over economic growth. This development warrants a careful examination of the underlying assumptions and dynamics of the economy. Keywords: Optimisation; Scarce resources; Economic science; Consumption and distribution; Neoliberalism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22521_2 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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