Category Archives: Oleg Komlik

Foucault: Neoliberalism Redefined Homo Economicus

Posted on November 18, 2020 by

Michel Foucault, a lecture at the Collège de France, March 1979: “The characteristic feature of the classical conception of homo economicus is the partner of exchange and the theory of utility based on a problematic of needs. In neo-liberalism — … Continue reading →

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The ES/PE community on social media

Posted on October 12, 2020 by

Dear email subscribers and WordPress subscribers to the Economic Sociology and Political Economy community blog, this post is mainly for you. Wouldn’t you like to know and recall, what we talked about the day before the Nobel Prize in Economic … Continue reading →

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Discipline and Punish: The Challenge of Teaching

Posted on October 6, 2020 by

While I was preparing a syllabus for a new course, two entertaining sayings jumped to my mind. The first was made by the master — Michel Foucault. During one of his lectures at Victoria University in Toronto in 1982, he … Continue reading →

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Tributes to David Graeber

Posted on September 8, 2020 by

David Graeber’s death shocked and saddened so many around the world… The bundles of emotions, memories and appreciation are being reflected in the incessant stream of obituaries and tributes. Links to a handful of them are collected here. Bruno Latour: … Continue reading →

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Rest in Power, David Graeber – the Activist-scholar who Lived the Coupling of Theory and Praxis

Posted on September 4, 2020 by

A prominent social scientist and committed public intellectual David Graeber has died. This is devastating news and an enormous loss… Graeber was an original thinker, distinguished researcher, incredible writer, and vigorous speaker. He genuinely embodied the amalgam of scholarship and … Continue reading →

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Democracy vs. Irony, Tragedy and Pathos

Posted on July 31, 2020 by

Disturbing events in several countries around the world during this turbulent time sprang to my mind a sharp observation by a prominent and influential American thinker and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination … Continue reading →

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What is Institutional Economics?

Posted on June 30, 2020 by

From William Dugger’s Underground Economics: A Decade of Institutionalist Dissent: “Institutionalism serves as the methodological conscience to the unrealistic neoclassicism that now dominates economics departments in U.S universities. Realism is the touchstone of institutionalism. Institutionalists may differ over many particulars, … Continue reading →

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The Feature of an Intellectual

Posted on June 6, 2020 by

F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that … Continue reading →

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Isaac Asimov on the thrill of learning and the peril of ignorance

Posted on April 9, 2020 by

While the Coronavirus pandemic and its probable consequences have caused many to recall the great Isaac Asimov‘s science fiction stories, his two beautiful and shrewd quotes which are no less relevant to our times sprang to my mind:  “[What’s exciting … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus and the Economy

Posted on March 31, 2020 by

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Bruno Latour on Uncertainty and Knowledge

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

“The world is not a solid continent of facts sprinkled by a few lakes of uncertainties, but a vast ocean of uncertainties speckled by a few islands of calibrated and stabilized forms. Do we really know that little? We know … Continue reading →

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Neoliberalism, Varieties of Capitalism, and Coronavirus

Posted on March 10, 2020 by

Since Neoliberalism shaped and fortified the notion that ‘the economy’ precedes ‘society’, now that Coronavirus crisis requires to put society first — this is perceived by many as simply illogical and capricious. Looking at the crisis around the world demonstrates … Continue reading →

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Jacques Chirac: Tony Blair is New Labour, which means he’s several steps to the right of conservatives

Posted on February 1, 2020 by

“[Jacques Chirac] was a conservative. He was intrigued by New Labour. Sometimes he used to say “Tony Blair is New Labour, which means he’s several steps to the right of me”.” (Tony Blair, September 26, 2019) These excellent books elaborate … Continue reading →

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Arthur Miller: “An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted”

Posted on August 28, 2019 by

On the brink of 1975, New York Magazine devoted an issue to a look at the year 1949. A canonical playwright Arthur Miller contributed to this issue an essay on “the state of New York mind in that year” through his … Continue reading →

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Probably the best “Acknowledgments” ever (5)

Posted on August 4, 2019 by

“Contrary to the fashion in most prefaces, I will not add that “all mistakes and shortcomings are entirely my responsibility.” That is sheer bourgeois subjectivism. Responsibility in matters of these sorts is always collective, especially with regard to the remedying … Continue reading →

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