[Review] Stephan Schulmeister - The Road to Prosperity - The structure of Scientific Revolutions 2022-01-15
Stephan Schulmeister is an economist from Austria who has little in common with the economically liberal so-called Austrian school.
The economist born on August 26, 1947 was a research assistant at the Austrian Economic Research Institute (Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung/WIFO) for forecasts, economic development, financial markets and international trade from 1972 to 2012.
The focus of his work is on the conflicts of interest between employees, employers from the real economy and the financial markets or financial capital.
According to Schulmeister the orientation of the economic order fluctuates permanently between real capitalism and financial capitalism. Long upswings are caused by an alliance of interests between employees and real capital and long downswings are caused by an alliance of interests between real capital and the financial markets or financial capital.
With his new book "The Way to Prosperity" he shows how much Schulmeister is concentrating on this and how good he is at this. The book explains the basics from his side such as Keynes or Smith as well as the basics of the opposite side such as Hayek or Friedman.
The book is an indictment and argument against the opposite side such as Hayek or Friedman. But Schulmeister has not only dislike for the opposite side but also admires how quickly and how many of their goals they have achieved.
Schulmeister begins his book with an excursus into scientific theory formation based on the book "Thomas S. Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" based on an essay by Ludwig Fleck. Here the formation of theories is described as a social process that is influenced by the balance of power within the society. In the described negative scenario a worldview dominates and the competition of ideas ends. The starting point for this is the idea that people consider familiar thought processes as particularly correct and that their own thinking consists much more of what they have learned from others than what they have recognized themselves. [1,p.36-47]
And if it is such a closed thinking system with an exclusive claim for the truth, then new insights become all the more difficult. Schulmeister describes how every thinking collective resists changes and even more against contrary thinking patterns. Here he refers to Fleck according to which there is a tendency towards stagnation and harmony of deception in thought collectives. This means that the competition of ideas ends in a system of thought with an exclusive claim to truth and in closed systems of thought. [1,p.36-47]
According to Schulmeister the orientation of the economic order fluctuates permanently between real capitalism and financial capitalism. Long upswings are caused by an alliance of interests between employees and real capital and long downswings are caused by an alliance of interests between real capital and the financial markets or financial capital.
With his new book "The Way to Prosperity" he shows how much Schulmeister is concentrating on this and how good he is at this. The book explains the basics from his side such as Keynes or Smith as well as the basics of the opposite side such as Hayek or Friedman.
The book is an indictment and argument against the opposite side such as Hayek or Friedman. But Schulmeister has not only dislike for the opposite side but also admires how quickly and how many of their goals they have achieved.
Schulmeister begins his book with an excursus into scientific theory formation based on the book "Thomas S. Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" based on an essay by Ludwig Fleck. Here the formation of theories is described as a social process that is influenced by the balance of power within the society. In the described negative scenario a worldview dominates and the competition of ideas ends. The starting point for this is the idea that people consider familiar thought processes as particularly correct and that their own thinking consists much more of what they have learned from others than what they have recognized themselves. [1,p.36-47]
And if it is such a closed thinking system with an exclusive claim for the truth, then new insights become all the more difficult. Schulmeister describes how every thinking collective resists changes and even more against contrary thinking patterns. Here he refers to Fleck according to which there is a tendency towards stagnation and harmony of deception in thought collectives. This means that the competition of ideas ends in a system of thought with an exclusive claim to truth and in closed systems of thought. [1,p.36-47]
- " A contradiction to the system seems unthinkable. "
- " What doesn't fit into the system remains unseen, or "
- " it is kept secret, even if it is known, or "
- " it is explained as not contradicting to the system with great effort. "
- "
One sees, describes and even depicts facts that correspond to the prevailing views, i.e. which are so to speak their realizations - despite all the rights of contradicting views.
"
[1,p.41]
Schulmeister thus explains how contradicting facts are ignored or reinterpreted in thinking systems with an exclusive claim to the truth and in closed thinking systems or even supposed facts are invented to confirm their worldview. For Schulmeister this dynamic corresponds to the prevailing climate in the debates on economic policy issues. So if one wants to know why the prevailing economic policy is doing so well or even considers it right one should be aware of the tendency towards stagnation and harmony of deception in thought collectives. [1,p.36-47]
[1] Stephan Schulmeisters Buch - Der Weg zur Prosperität- ISBN 978-3711001481
[2] Welche Aufgaben kommen für die Sozialdemokratie? Schulmeister und Max Lercher 2018-05-07
https://youtu.be/iJzheZwCtV0
[3] Der Weg zur Prosperität Stephan Schulmeister Buchvorstellung WU in Wien 2018-06-08
https://youtu.be/_s2SJIKk204
[4] Stephan Schulmeister - Europas Weg in die Krise und zurück zur Prosperität 2018-06-22
https://youtu.be/cKy4Y5Zk8ig
[5] „Wir sind in gefährlicher Nähe zu den 1930er-Jahren.“ Stephan Schulmeister im Gespräch 2018-06-18
https://youtu.be/tL0kaHQTByA
[6] Märkte als Religionsersatz? | Stephan Schulmeister bei quer.denken. 2019-02-07
https://youtu.be/EUCGzOkfBtc
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