A road less travelled

Geoffrey M. Hodgson ()

Chapter 4 in From Marx to Markets, 2025, pp 61-83 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter 4 covers the years from 1975 to 1980, when Geoffrey Hodgson became increasingly critical of Marxism and began looking for alternative theoretical approaches in social science. The genocidal takeover of Cambodia by the Marxist-Leninist Khmer Rouge affected him deeply. He wrote a short book on fatalistic thinking in Trotskyism and an influential book on why socialists should not overthrow parliaments but work within them. In economics, Hodgson read works by George Shackle, Herbert Simon, and others. He became critical of the central assumption in mainstream economics of utility-maximizing individuals. He was also concerned that Cambridge heterodox economists, which included Joan Robinson and others, had not successfully integrated Sraffian and Keynesian ideas, as they sometimes suggested. János Kornai's writings helped Hodgson to understand the interdependence of state planning and markets and the need for a mixed economy.

Keywords: Khmer Rouge; Parliamentary democracy; George Shackle; Herbert Simon; Joan Robinson; János Kornai (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035350094
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035350100.00010 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24111_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().