Swedberg: The New Battle of Methods

R Swedberg, The New battle of Methods. (Univ., Sociologiska institutionen, 1990).

"As the 'cold war' between economics and the other social sciences draws to a close, new scientific discoveries are being threatened by the single-minded vision of the economic imperialists" (33).

This article begins by wondering where the line will be drawn between the study of economics and other social science endeavors. "It is my contention that economic imperialism is threatening to set off a new 'battle of methods," and this is something that could have very negative consequences for economics..." (33). The author focuses on the Methodenstreit battle that came to represent early iterations of the tension between economics and other social sciences, specifically in battles between economists who argued for a more historical approach and those who worked with purely analytical approaches, most notably the marginal utility approach of Menger, etc. Webber is seen as bringing both camps together in a school of thought that brought both history and theory to bear on economic problems. This was called the socioeconomic school.

The author wonders if the rationalistic approaches of authors like Becker are not isolating economics once again. This isolation and attempt to explain everything using economic methodologies is referred to as "economic imperialism" by Swedberg (36).