 Societal ideology, norms, and the human characterUlf Johanson and Emmanuel Aboagye Chapter 7 in Pluralistic Economics, 2026, pp 87-96 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, economics occupied a central position within sociology. Marx argued that accounting served to strengthen capitalism and cultivate greed, while Weber enabled a rational pursuit of profit, and that the language of money was its ideal tool. Despite this early sociological interest, the integration of economics into sociology faded for several decades, only to re-emerge in the 1950s. By then, accounting practices and monetary language had already become institutionalized, and techniques for setting goals, routines, and policies had taken firm root. Financial reporting increasingly became ceremonial, legitimizing organizations rather than merely informing them. In the 1970s, however, the narrow view of economics began to shift. Behavioral accounting, social accounting, sustainability reporting, and personnel accounting expanded the field, contributing to the development of pluralistic economics. Pluralistic economics, sometimes termed political economy, explicitly recognizes that economic methods are intertwined with democracy, norms, and broader ideological commitments. Keywords: Work as a moral imperative; Instrumentalization of life; Erosion of social ties; Owning or being; Social character; Business character (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:25505_7 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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