Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INSTITUTIONS (Institutions and Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Economic Institutions)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-09-01 bis 2022-08-31
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action “Institutions and Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Economic Institutions” draws its initial motivation from the emergence of a global financial crisis in 2007–2008 that consequently evolved into an economic period called “The Great Recession”, which was further compounded by a European sovereign debt crisis. In Europe, the economic crisis developed into a serious political challenge for the (economic) institutions of the monetary union and the existing institutional framework of the European Union as a whole. The future of the EU institutional framework will vastly depend on a comprehensive theoretical and interdisciplinary assessment, combined with a pragmatic transformative implementation. Although the academic study of the subject of (social) institutions is gaining significant attention in mainstream debates on ethics, sociology, politics, and economics, this Action aims to approach the concept of “Institution” from a different perspective, i.e. drawing from contemporary (continental) philosophy, Institutional schools in economics, and the Frankfurt School critical theory.
The subsequent categorical work on institutions was motivated by these real-life events and the resulting challenges to existing institutions. The purpose was therefore to comprehend the meaning of institutions in a world absorbed in this unprecedented flux and propose a study that investigates the possibility of devising a critical theory of institutions in general, and of economic institutions in particular. Furthermore, the study expounds critical contributions to the theoretical understanding of economic institutions from a variety of disciplinary fields and it contributes to the establishment of a multidisciplinary account of social validity, economic function, ethical normativity, and political foundation. A complementary goal of this Individual Fellowship is to endow the fellow researcher with path-breaking interdisciplinary knowledge in philosophy, economics, sociology, and political science to foster the transition to intellectual maturity and leading research excellence.
The subsequent categorical work on institutions was motivated by these real-life events and the resulting challenges to existing institutions. The purpose was therefore to comprehend the meaning of institutions in a world absorbed in this unprecedented flux and propose a study that investigates the possibility of devising a critical theory of institutions in general, and of economic institutions in particular. Furthermore, the study expounds critical contributions to the theoretical understanding of economic institutions from a variety of disciplinary fields and it contributes to the establishment of a multidisciplinary account of social validity, economic function, ethical normativity, and political foundation. A complementary goal of this Individual Fellowship is to endow the fellow researcher with path-breaking interdisciplinary knowledge in philosophy, economics, sociology, and political science to foster the transition to intellectual maturity and leading research excellence.
The MSC Action INSTITUTIONS study was divided into three main parts, which correspond to the three core research work packages (WP1 – WP3) of the Action. Two auxiliary work packages were provided for management and administrative tasks – including training and TOK (WP4) and for dissemination and public communication (WP5).
WP1 focused on a comparative and interpretative analysis of key literature centred on “Old Institutional Economics” of Thorstein Veblen and his followers (John R. Commons, Clarence Ayres), complemented with an assessment of the notion of the “Institution” in various social sciences. The outcome formed the first part (2 chapters) of a monograph manuscript draft – a formal ZFC set-theoretic axiomatization of Veblenʼs theory of instincts, habits of thought and institutions – outlining an ontological basis for a new critical theory of (economic) institutions. The work resulted in a submitted journal article and a presented conference paper.
WP2 was aimed at assessing the convergences and divergences in the theoretical systems of Alain Badiou and Cornelius Castoriadis, particularly their appropriation of a particular branch in mathematics – set-theory. It established a point of intersection – inconsistent multiplicity as the site of truth – a concept that also underlies the conceptualization and insurrection of an institutional framework. Furthermore, it expounded on the conceptual transposition of philosophical categories into an economic dispositive of values and prices of commodities. These elaborations were presented in two journal articles and a chapter in an edited publication.
WP3 involved a synthesis of the “ontological” basis with the “phenomenological” appearing of institutions conceived as a critical theory. The conducted inquiry and analysis of WP1 and WP2 was linked to an important notion of Theodor Adorno – the real abstraction. Taken as a particular institution of a capitalist institutional framework it introduces a pathway to Marx’s critique of economic categories and analysis of forms and content of value. The particular aim of this WP was to establish a logical congruence between Marx’s value form, Adorno’s call for systematic-encyclopaedic analysis of the abstraction of the exchange on the one hand, and Badiou’s phenomenological transcendental operations of being-there, on the other. Formalized with set theory and category theory, Veblen’s and the Institutionalists’ account of economics is re-inscribed in Badiou’s and Castoriadis’s analytical framework, introducing a novel groundwork by relying on Marx’s and Adorno’s critiques of capitalist reified societies. These resulted in three additional journal articles and two conference papers.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the WP on management and administrative tasks was done almost exclusively online, with researcher training and transfer-of-knowledge (such as the Book Manuscript Workshop, post-doc introduction seminars, and the Political Theory Workshop) conducted via “Zoom” sessions. The exploitation and dissemination of results was primarily done through an established project website (institutionsandsociety.com) but also at a final Action event, an International workshop organized by the fellow along with the University of York and held at the Postgraduate School of Scientific Research Centre at Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts under the title: “Re-thinking Institutions: Heterodox and Critical Perspectives”. In response to the findings from this MSCA fellowship, a new interdisciplinary study module at the Postgraduate School will be conducted, bringing together contemporary philosophy, sociological critiques of liberalism, progressive Marxian and heterodox economics approaches, studies in ethics of artificial intelligence, big data and bio-ethics, etc.
WP1 focused on a comparative and interpretative analysis of key literature centred on “Old Institutional Economics” of Thorstein Veblen and his followers (John R. Commons, Clarence Ayres), complemented with an assessment of the notion of the “Institution” in various social sciences. The outcome formed the first part (2 chapters) of a monograph manuscript draft – a formal ZFC set-theoretic axiomatization of Veblenʼs theory of instincts, habits of thought and institutions – outlining an ontological basis for a new critical theory of (economic) institutions. The work resulted in a submitted journal article and a presented conference paper.
WP2 was aimed at assessing the convergences and divergences in the theoretical systems of Alain Badiou and Cornelius Castoriadis, particularly their appropriation of a particular branch in mathematics – set-theory. It established a point of intersection – inconsistent multiplicity as the site of truth – a concept that also underlies the conceptualization and insurrection of an institutional framework. Furthermore, it expounded on the conceptual transposition of philosophical categories into an economic dispositive of values and prices of commodities. These elaborations were presented in two journal articles and a chapter in an edited publication.
WP3 involved a synthesis of the “ontological” basis with the “phenomenological” appearing of institutions conceived as a critical theory. The conducted inquiry and analysis of WP1 and WP2 was linked to an important notion of Theodor Adorno – the real abstraction. Taken as a particular institution of a capitalist institutional framework it introduces a pathway to Marx’s critique of economic categories and analysis of forms and content of value. The particular aim of this WP was to establish a logical congruence between Marx’s value form, Adorno’s call for systematic-encyclopaedic analysis of the abstraction of the exchange on the one hand, and Badiou’s phenomenological transcendental operations of being-there, on the other. Formalized with set theory and category theory, Veblen’s and the Institutionalists’ account of economics is re-inscribed in Badiou’s and Castoriadis’s analytical framework, introducing a novel groundwork by relying on Marx’s and Adorno’s critiques of capitalist reified societies. These resulted in three additional journal articles and two conference papers.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the WP on management and administrative tasks was done almost exclusively online, with researcher training and transfer-of-knowledge (such as the Book Manuscript Workshop, post-doc introduction seminars, and the Political Theory Workshop) conducted via “Zoom” sessions. The exploitation and dissemination of results was primarily done through an established project website (institutionsandsociety.com) but also at a final Action event, an International workshop organized by the fellow along with the University of York and held at the Postgraduate School of Scientific Research Centre at Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts under the title: “Re-thinking Institutions: Heterodox and Critical Perspectives”. In response to the findings from this MSCA fellowship, a new interdisciplinary study module at the Postgraduate School will be conducted, bringing together contemporary philosophy, sociological critiques of liberalism, progressive Marxian and heterodox economics approaches, studies in ethics of artificial intelligence, big data and bio-ethics, etc.
This project presents a novel reading of Thorstein Veblenʼs theory of institutions and progresses towards a Frankfurt-School-inspired critical theory of (economic) institutions. It engages the mathematical turns of Alain Badiou and Cornelius Castoriadis and draws on mathematical meta-structures, such as ZFC set theory and category theory to accommodate and model different underlying logics – Veblenʼs evolutionary methodology opposed to materialist dialectics of Marx, Badiou, Castoriadis, the Frankfurt School, etc. It retraces Marx’s positing of the real-general as real abstraction proposed by Alfred Sohn-Rethel and Theodor W. Adorno, conceptualizing the particular object-moment emerging in market commodity exchange. Consequently, it becomes a landmark study of intersecting disciplines, ranging from economics to contemporary philosophy, mathematics to sociology and politics.
The dissemination of results in the form of an international workshop at the end of the fellowship has already confirmed an extended interest in the project from the international academic community. It has been favourably acknowledged and accepted with the expectations of delivering a completed publication (expected in the months following the end of the project) to a renowned publishing house. The results acquired have also induced an incorporation of project topics into a new curriculum of a study module at the Postgraduate School of Scientific Research Centre at Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
The dissemination of results in the form of an international workshop at the end of the fellowship has already confirmed an extended interest in the project from the international academic community. It has been favourably acknowledged and accepted with the expectations of delivering a completed publication (expected in the months following the end of the project) to a renowned publishing house. The results acquired have also induced an incorporation of project topics into a new curriculum of a study module at the Postgraduate School of Scientific Research Centre at Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.