Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

9-2026

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of relative position in the history of economics understood as ‘being in a position’ in a structure of positions. This is first discussed in macro-distributional terms in connection with Ricardo and Marx and in micro-behavioral terms in connection with Du Bois and Veblen. The paper then discusses two recent approaches in economics that employ the concept of relative position in a combined macro-micro analysis: the capability approach and stratification economics. For explicitly ontological analysis of the concept, the paper compares three different interpretative strategies from outside economics: Cambridge social positioning theory, embodied and distributed cognition thinking, and modern ecology theory. It argues at issue in each is how ontological reasoning regarding position depends on assuming the past-present-future conception of temporal sequences.

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