IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ejw/journl/v15y2018i1p20-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Progressive Legacy Rolls On: A Critique of Steinbaum and Weisberger on Illiberal Reformers

Author

Listed:
  • Phillip W. Magness

Abstract

This essay evaluates the harsh criticism directed at Thomas Leonard’s book Illiberal Reformers by Marshall Steinbaum and Bernard Weisberger, primarily as manifest in their review published in the Journal of Economic Literature. Steinbaum and Weisberger first fail to do justice to Leonard’s extensive and original scholarship, and then, by reburying progressive eugenics in euphemism, they aim directly at undoing Leonard’s substantive contributions to the history of economics. Steinbaum and Weisberger are motivated to offer progressive economists a redemptive escape from association with eugenics, and they attempt to deliver such escape by parsing the motivations of progressives and those of progressives’ ideological opponents. But, absurdly, Steinbaum and Weisberger’s parsing rests on an ascription to the progressives’ opponents of a particular “racist typology” regarding labor markets, even though the book they were ostensibly reviewing documents that leading progressives deployed that “typology.” The JEL review of Illiberal Reformers thus offers little but leftist declamation—and even to that end Steinbaum and Weisberger largely traffic in avoidance and euphemism, notably so in their treatment of the progressive economist Edward Ross.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillip W. Magness, 2018. "The Progressive Legacy Rolls On: A Critique of Steinbaum and Weisberger on Illiberal Reformers," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20–34, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:20-34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/File+download/1046/MagnessJan2018.pdf?mimetype=pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/1107
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas C. Leonard, 2003. "“More Merciful and Not Less Effective†: Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 35(4), pages 687-712, Winter.
    2. Thomas C. Leonard, 2016. "Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10572.
    3. Thomas C. Leonard, 2015. "Progressive Era Origins of the Regulatory State and the Economist as Expert," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 47(5), pages 49-76, Supplemen.
    4. Leonard, Thomas C., 2009. "Origins of the myth of social Darwinism: The ambiguous legacy of Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 37-51, July.
    5. repec:eme:rhet11:s0743-4154(2012)000030b004 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Thomas C. Leonard, 2011. "Religion and Evolution in Progressive Era Political Economy: Adversaries or Allies?," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 429-469, Fall.
    7. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Mistaking Eugenics for Social Darwinism: Why Eugenics Is Missing from the History of American Economics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 37(5), pages 200-233, Supplemen.
    8. David M. Levy & Sandra J. Peart & Margaret Albert, 2012. "Economic Liberals as Quasi-Public Intellectuals: The Democratic Dimension," Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, in: Documents on Government and the Economy, pages 1-116, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Marshall I. Steinbaum & Bernard A. Weisberger, 2017. "The Intellectual Legacy of Progressive Economics: A Review Essay of Thomas C. Leonard's Illiberal Reformers," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1064-1083, September.
    10. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Protecting Family and Race," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 757-791, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nick Cowen, 2018. "Mill’s radical end of laissez-faire: A review essay of the political economy of progress: John Stuart Mill and modern radicalism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 373-386, September.
    2. Clifford F. Thies & Ryan Daza, 2011. "Richard T. Ely: The Confederate Flag of the AEA?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 8(2), pages 147-156, May.
    3. Luca Fiorito & Cosma Orsi, 2012. "Anti-Semitism and Progressive Era Social Science. The case of John R. Commons," Department of Economics University of Siena 658, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. McCloskey Deirdre Nansen, 2018. "The Two Movements in Economic Thought, 1700–2000: Empty Economic Boxes Revisited," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Protecting Family and Race," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 757-791, July.
    6. Carlana, Michela & Tabellini, Marco, 2018. "Happily Ever After: Immigration, Natives' Marriage, and Fertility," Working Paper Series rwp18-035, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. Mingardi Alberto, 2015. "Herbert Spencer on Corporate Governance," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 195-214, December.
    8. Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, 2019. "Lachmann practiced humanomics, beyond the dogma of behaviorism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 47-61, March.
    9. repec:osf:osfxxx:dv97k_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jan Schnellenbach, 2015. "Does classical liberalism imply an evolutionary approach to policy-making?," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 53-70, April.
    11. Cruz-e-Silva, Victor & Almeida, Felipe, 2024. "Correa Moylan Walsh Beyond Index Numbers: From The “Battle Of The Standards” To The Science Of Money," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 69-91, March.
    12. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Retrospectives: Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 207-224, Fall.
    13. Fiorito, Luca & Erasmo, Valentina, 2022. "Hereditarianism, Eugenics and American Social Science in the Interwar Years: Meet the Carverians," SocArXiv 7t59c, Center for Open Science.
    14. Luca Fiorito, 2012. "Between Progressivism and Institutionalism Albert Benedict Wolfe on Eugenics," Department of Economics University of Siena 644, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    15. Fiorito, Luca, 2022. "The “Social Value” Debate: An Early Chapter in the History of American Marginalism," OSF Preprints kznuj, Center for Open Science.
    16. Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, Cléo, 2019. "Is Equal Pay Worth it?," OSF Preprints 8cq9j, Center for Open Science.
    17. Leonard, Thomas C., 2009. "Origins of the myth of social Darwinism: The ambiguous legacy of Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 37-51, July.
    18. Sebastião Neto Ribeiro Guedes & Rodrigo Constantino Jeronimo, 2023. "A Concept of Two Authors: Commons and Williamson on Transactions," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 35(1), pages 61-82, January.
    19. repec:osf:socarx:nw8qz_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Sunna, Claudia & Ricciardo, Traci M., 2023. "Before Brain Drain: Italian Economists On The Calculus Of The Value Of Men," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 603-624, December.
    21. Abdallah Zouache, 2014. "De la question coloniale chez les anciens et néo-institutionnalistes," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 124(1), pages 129-149.
    22. repec:osf:socarx:gd7af_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Terenzio Maccabelli, 2008. "Social Anthropology in Economic Literature at the End of the 19th Century: Eugenic and Racial Explanations of Inequality," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 481-527, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Progressivism; eugenicists; history of economic thought;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)

    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:ejw:journl:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:20-34. 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: Jason Briggeman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edgmuus.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.