Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Source Publication
Journal of Economic Methodology
Source ISSN
1350-178X
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.1080/1350178X.2025.2555825
Abstract
Mainstream economics ignores who produces it and what it is about because its average man, Homo economicus ontological entry-point obscures social differences between people. Philosophy and Methodology of Economics that assumes this ontological entry point generally limits itself to epistemological analysis, and this means it fails to make diversity a fundamental concern. Taking diversity seriously entails being clear about one's ontological assumptions, and this requires being clear about the normative scope of one's analysis. This calls for giving up a value-neutral methodological reasoning and adopting a value-explicit methodological posture. To illustrate, we describe how Stratification economics with its social groups ontological entry-point shows societies are structured around hierarchical social group rankings that differentiate people according to their social identity status. We explain this in both micro-level and macro-level terms, show that together they produce systems of inclusion and exclusion, and argue that this raises issues of equality and justice.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Burnazoglu, Merve and Davis, John B., "Building Diversity Into the Philosophy and Methodology of Economics with Stratification Economics" (2025). Economics Faculty Research and Publications. 648.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/econ_fac/648
Comments
Accepted version. Journal of Economic Methodology, 2025. DOI. Online before print.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.