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The Masculinity of Homo Oeconomicus. Maffeo Pantaleoni and Feminism

Author

Listed:
  • Manuela Mosca

Abstract

The paper discusses Pantaleoni?s feminism, as explicitly attributed to him by Pareto, against the backdrop of the first wave of feminism in the Western world. Pantaleoni was personally in contact with feminists from the aristocracy and upper-middle class and supported many of their initiatives in favour of women. The article examines Pantaleoni?s scarce writings on women?s behaviour and role in society, as well as his views on the feminist movement. Pantaleoni?s favoured subject of enquiry, as well as the distinguishing feature of pure economics, was homo oeconomicus, a figure whose actual existence he never doubted and to whose popularity he made a crucial contribution. In the 1990s, feminist economics criticised the neoclassical approach, denouncing the androcentric bias in its notion of rationality and thus the masculinity of homo oeconomicus. In response, microeconomists argued that homo oeconomicus is an ungendered, abstract, universal category. By reconstructing the features of economic rationality that Pantaleoni attributed exclusively to men, this article provides a crucial element into the masculine connotation of homo oeconomicus.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuela Mosca, 2025. "The Masculinity of Homo Oeconomicus. Maffeo Pantaleoni and Feminism," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2025(1), pages 13-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/spe2025-001002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marco Dardi, 2014. "Neither Lausanne nor Cambridge: Pantaleoni and the missing boundary between economics and sociology," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 485-519, June.
    2. Piero Bini, 2013. "Captains of Industry and Masters of Thought. The Entrepreneur and the Tradition of Italian Liberal Economists from Francesco Ferrara to Sergio Ricossa," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 87-130.
    3. Claudia Sunna & Manuela Mosca, 2017. "Heterogenesis of ends: Herbert Spencer and the Italian economists," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 25-57, January.
    4. Bee, Michele & Desmarais-Tremblay, Maxime, 2023. "The Birth Of Homo Œconomicus: The Methodological Debate On The Economic Agent From J. S. Mill To V. Pareto," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 1-26, March.
    5. Luca Michelini & Terenzio Maccabelli, 2015. "Economics and Anti-Semitism: The Case of Maffeo Pantaleoni," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 91-118, March.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K38 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law

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