IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecosys/v39y2015i1p143-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From equilibrium to autopoiesis: A Luhmannian reading of Veblenian evolutionary economics

Author

Listed:
  • Valentinov, Vladislav

Abstract

The paper reconstructs the Veblenian critique of the pecuniary economy from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic social systems. Luhmann argued that social systems relieve people from the overwhelming civilizational complexity, but develop autopoietic properties hindering rational solutions to human problems. This argument allows seeing the pecuniary economy as an important complexity-reducing device, which, however, develops excessive autonomy from the embedding societal and ecological environment. For this reason, like other autopoietic systems, the economy has a high chance of becoming societally and ecologically unsustainable. While Veblen criticized the obsession of classical economics with equilibrium and the natural order, Luhmann urged to replace the notion of equilibrium with that of autopoiesis, which focuses attention on the sustainability problem. Accentuating this problem is shown to be the main evolutionary economics implication of Luhmann's work.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentinov, Vladislav, 2015. "From equilibrium to autopoiesis: A Luhmannian reading of Veblenian evolutionary economics," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 143-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:39:y:2015:i:1:p:143-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2014.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362515000059
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecosys.2014.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Silber, Jacques & Verme, Paolo, 2012. "Relative deprivation, reference groups and the assessment of standard of living," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 31-45.
    2. Vladislav Valentinov, 2012. "The Institutionalist Implications of the General Systems Theory: The Societal Role of the Market," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 253-262, May.
    3. Samuels, Warren J, 1995. "The Present State of Institutional Economics," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 569-590, August.
    4. Paul D. Bush, 1987. "The Theory of Institutional Change," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 1075-1116, September.
    5. Bertrand Moingeon & Muhammad Yunus & Laurence Lehmann-Ortega, 2010. "Building Social Business Models: Lessons from the Grameen Experience," Post-Print hal-00528385, HAL.
    6. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2014. "Transaction Costs, Social Costs and Open Systems: Some Common Threads," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 316-326, March.
    7. Arthur, W Brian, 1989. "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(394), pages 116-131, March.
    8. Fidrmuc, Jan & Tichit, Ariane, 2013. "How I learned to stop worrying and love the crisis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 542-554.
    9. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2012. "Property Rights Problems in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Heterodox Institutionalist Perspective," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 61(03), pages 1-9, August.
    10. Veblen, Thorstein, 1904. "Theory of Business Enterprise," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1904.
    11. Rutherford, Malcolm, 1998. "Veblen's Evolutionary Programme: A Promise Unfulfilled," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 463-477, July.
    12. Elsner, Wolfram & Heinrich, Torsten & Schwardt, Henning, 2014. "The Microeconomics of Complex Economies," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780124115859.
    13. Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies & Vladislav Valentinov, 2012. "How to Foster Social Progress: An Ordonomic Perspective on Progressive Institutional Change," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 779-798.
    14. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2012. "Property Rights Problems in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Heterodox Institutionalist Perspective," Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development, vol. 61(3).
    15. Ivan A. Boldyrev, 2013. "Economy as a Social System: N iklas L uhmann's Contribution and its Significance for Economics," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 265-292, April.
    16. Boakye, Said, 2012. "Theory of social transformation, political transition and economic growth," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 411-425.
    17. Vladislav Valentinov, 2013. "Veblen and Instrumental Value: A Systems Theory Perspective," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 673-688.
    18. Scott T. Fullwiler & Wolfram Elsner & Tara Natarajan, 2009. "The Social Fabric Matrix Approach to Policy Analysis: An Introduction," Springer Books, in: Tara Natarajan & Wolfram Elsner & Scott Fullwiler (ed.), Institutional Analysis and Praxis, pages 1-22, Springer.
    19. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2013. "Economic theories of nonprofits and agricultural cooperatives compared: New perspectives for nonprofit scholars," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 109-126.
    20. Valentinov, Vladislav, 2012. "Understanding the rural third sector: insights from Veblen and Bogdanov," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(1/2), pages 177-188.
    21. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    22. Valentinov, Vladislav, 2014. "K. William Kapp's theory of social costs: A Luhmannian interpretation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 28-33.
    23. Wolfram Elsner, 2012. "The Theory of Institutional Change Revisited: The Institutional Dichotomy, Its Dynamic, and Its Policy Implications in a More Formal Analysis," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 1-44.
    24. Vladislav Valentinov, 2012. "Toward a holistic nonprofit economics: insights from institutionalism and systems theory," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 77-89, April.
    25. Veblen, Thorstein, 1898. "Why Economics is not an Evolutionary Science," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 12.
    26. Dirk Helbing & Alan Kirman, 2013. "Rethinking economics using complexity theory," Post-Print hal-01499608, HAL.
    27. Putterman, Louis, 2013. "Institutions, social capability, and economic growth," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 345-353.
    28. John R. Munkirs, 1988. "The Dichotomy: Views of a Fifth Generation Institutionalist," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 1035-1044, December.
    29. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan & Beckmann, Markus, 2009. "Moral Commitments and the Societal Role of Business: An Ordonomic Approach to Corporate Citizenship," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 375-401, July.
    30. Mayhew, Anne, 1998. "On the Difficulty of Evolutionary Analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 449-461, July.
    31. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Institutional Economics and Social Dilemmas: a Systems Theory Perspective," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 138-149, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vladislav Valentinov, 2019. "The Ethics of Functional Differentiation: Reclaiming Morality in Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 105-114, March.
    2. Chatalova, Lioudmila & Djanibekov, Nodir & Gagalyuk, Taras & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2017. "The paradox of water management projects in Central Asia: An institutionalist perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14.
    3. Vladislav Valentinov, 2017. "The Rawlsian Critique of Utilitarianism: A Luhmannian Interpretation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 25-35, April.
    4. Steven E. Wallis & Vladislav Valentinov, 2017. "A Limit to Our Thinking and Some Unanticipated Moral Consequences: A Science of Conceptual Systems Perspective with Some Potential Solutions," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 103-116, April.
    5. Lioudmila Chatalova & Daniel Müller & Vladislav Valentinov & Alfons Balmann, 2016. "The Rise of the Food Risk Society and the Changing Nature of the Technological Treadmill," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-10, June.
    6. Valentinov, Vladislav & Hielscher, Stefan & Pies, Ingo, 2015. "Nonprofit organizations, institutional economics, and systems thinking," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 491-501.
    7. Valentinov, Vladislav, 2015. "Value devolution in social enterprises: Institutional economics and systems theory perspectives," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(9), pages 1126-1133.
    8. Vladislav Valentinov & Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies, 2016. "Emergence: A Systems Theory’s Challenge to Ethics," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 29(6), pages 597-610, December.
    9. Vladislav Valentinov & Gabriela Vaceková, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-17, July.
    10. Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies & Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Rationalizing the GMO Debate: The Ordonomic Approach to Addressing Agricultural Myths," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-10, May.
    11. Valentinov, Vladislav & Vaceková, Gabriela, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(8), pages 9890-9906.
    12. Ermanno C. Tortia, 2018. "The Firm as a Common. Non-Divided Ownership, Patrimonial Stability and Longevity of Co-Operative Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, March.
    13. Hielscher, Stefan & Pies, Ingo & Valentinov, Vladislav & Chatalova, Lioudmila, 2016. "Rationalizing the GMO debate: The ordonomic approach to addressing agricultural myths," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(5), pages 1-10.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valentinov, Vladislav & Hielscher, Stefan & Pies, Ingo, 2015. "Nonprofit organizations, institutional economics, and systems thinking," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 491-501.
    2. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2014. "Transaction Costs, Social Costs and Open Systems: Some Common Threads," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 316-326, March.
    3. Gräbner, Claudius, 2014. "Agent-Based Computational Models - A Formal Heuristic for Institutionalist Pattern Modelling?," MPRA Paper 56415, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Balmann, Alfons & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2016. "Towards a Theory of Structural Change in Agriculture: Just Economics?," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 246420, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Vladislav Valentinov & Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies, 2016. "Emergence: A Systems Theory’s Challenge to Ethics," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 29(6), pages 597-610, December.
    6. Chatalova, Lioudmila & Djanibekov, Nodir & Gagalyuk, Taras & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2017. "The paradox of water management projects in Central Asia: An institutionalist perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14.
    7. Hielscher, Stefan & Pies, Ingo & Valentinov, Vladislav & Chatalova, Lioudmila, 2016. "Rationalizing the GMO debate: The ordonomic approach to addressing agricultural myths," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(5), pages 1-10.
    8. Gräbner, Claudius, 2015. "Formal Approaches to Socio Economic Policy Analysis - Past and Perspectives," MPRA Paper 61348, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Rustem Nureev & Vyacheslav Volchik & Wadim Strielkowski, 2020. "Neoliberal Reforms in Higher Education and the Import of Institutions," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    10. Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies & Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Rationalizing the GMO Debate: The Ordonomic Approach to Addressing Agricultural Myths," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-10, May.
    11. Vladislav Valentinov, 2014. "The Complexity–Sustainability Trade‐Off in Niklas Luhmann's Social Systems Theory," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 14-22, January.
    12. Heinrich, Torsten, 2016. "The Narrow and the Broad Approach to Evolutionary Modeling in Economics," MPRA Paper 75797, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Vladislav Valentinov, 2023. "Stakeholder Theory: Toward a Classical Institutional Economics Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 75-88, November.
    14. Tae-Hee Jo, 2021. "A Veblenian Critique of Nelson and Winter’s Evolutionary Theory," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 1101-1117, October.
    15. Carías Vega, Dora E. & Keenan, Rodney J., 2016. "Situating community forestry enterprises within New Institutional Economic theory: What are the implications for their organization?," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-13.
    16. Paolo Ramazzotti, 2016. "Themes in an institutionalist theory of economic policy," Working Papers 81-2016, Macerata University, Department of Finance and Economic Sciences, revised May 2016.
    17. Valentinov, Vladislav, 2023. "Stakeholder theory: Toward a classical institutional economics perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 188(1), pages 75-88.
    18. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Institutional Economics, Social Dilemmas, and the Complexity-Sustainability Trade-off (A response to Hielscher and Pies)," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 488-491, May.
    19. Steven E. Wallis & Vladislav Valentinov, 2017. "A Limit to Our Thinking and Some Unanticipated Moral Consequences: A Science of Conceptual Systems Perspective with Some Potential Solutions," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 103-116, April.
    20. Tortia, Ermanno & Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2013. "Agricultural cooperatives," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2(1), pages 23-36.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Niklas Luhmann; Thorstein Veblen; Evolutionary economics; Autopoiesis; Economic system; Systems theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • P10 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:39:y:2015:i:1:p:143-155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/osteide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.