Panoeconomicus 2016 Volume 63, Issue 4, Pages: 475-492
https://doi.org/10.2298/PAN1604475H
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Cited by
Subreption, radical institutionalism, and economic evolution
Hall John (Portland State University, Economics and International Studies, Oregon, USA)
Dunlap Alexander (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Social Anthropology, Netherland, PhD Candidate)
Mitchell-Nelson Joe (University of Oregon, Department of Economics, Oregon, USA, PhD Candidate)
This inquiry seeks to establish the importance of subreption as an approach
to economic and social evolution that also proves integral to the tradition
of radical institutionalism. We relate subreption’s etymology and appearances
in Roman, Canon and Scots Law, as well as in Philosophy, to its applications
found in writings advanced by Thorstein Veblen and carried on later as
William Dugger details the rise of corporate hegemony. Understood as an
approach derivable from selected philosophical writings of Immanuel Kant, in
social science subreption is suggested to occur through the introduction of
an outside value that sets off a form of institutional evolution that we
characterize as an évolution noire. Considering subreption and the rise of
big business, we can mark a movement away from a past governed by
comparatively noble values and towards a deteriorated, debased and degraded
economic and social reality overtly influenced by comparatively ignoble,
pecuniary values.
Keywords: evolutionary economics, Immanuel Kant, radical institutionalism, subreption, Thorstein Veblen, William dugger