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Methodological Critique (methodological + critique)
Selected AbstractsFinding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory StudiesHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2002Wolf Kansteiner The memory wave in the humanities has contributed to the impressive revival of cultural history, but the success of memory studies has not been accompanied by significant conceptual and methodological advances in the research of collective memory processes. Most studies on memory focus on the representation of specific events within particular chronological, geographical, and media settings without reflecting on the audiences of the representations in question. As a result, the wealth of new insights into past and present historical cultures cannot be linked conclusively to specific social collectives and their historical consciousness. This methodological problem is even enhanced by the metaphorical use of psychological and neurological terminology, which misrepresents the social dynamics of collective memory as an effect and extension of individual, autobiographical memory. Some of these shortcomings can be addressed through the extensive contextualization of specific strategies of representation, which links facts of representation with facts of reception. As a result, the history of collective memory would be recast as a complex process of cultural production and consumption that acknowledges the persistence of cultural traditions as well as the ingenuity of memory makers and the subversive interests of memory consumers. The negotiations among these three different historical agents create the rules of engagement in the competitive arena of memory politics, and the reconstruction of these negotiations helps us distinguish among the abundance of failed collective memory initiatives on the one hand and the few cases of successful collective memory construction on the other. For this purpose, collective memory studies should adopt the methods of communication and media studies, especially with regard to media reception, and continue to use a wide range of interpretive tools from traditional historiography to poststructural approaches. From the perspective of collective memory studies, these two traditions are closely related and mutually beneficial, rather than mutually exclusive, ways of analyzing historical cultures. [source] Mathematics in Economics: An Austrian Methodological CritiquePHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS, Issue 1 2010Robert Wutscher Even the briefest and most superficial perusal of leading mainstream economics journals will attest to the degree that mathematical formalism has captured the economics profession. Whereas up to the early 20th century virtually all of the output of the dismal scientists was in the literary format, by the early 21st century this is not at all any longer the case. Mathematical formalism is supposed to serve economics, and yet now true economic insight has been crowded out by the math. If mainstream neoclassical economics is to come back to its proper path, a far less central role for mathematical economics, statistics and econometrics will have to be fashioned. [source] Optimal Allocation of Land between Productive Use and Recreational UseJOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2003Eduardo L. Giménez We address this issue with a comprehensive approach. A static rational general equilibrium framework is developed in which heterogeneous agents allocate land and time endowments between alternative uses. This modeling has important advantages. First, Pareto-optimal and voluntary-contribution equilibrium allocations are obtained in a unified set-up. Second, the suboptimality result of the decentralized equilibrium, the free-rider problem on the provision of this nonexcludable public good, and different mechanisms to return the economy to its first-best are analyzed. Finally, a methodological critique is made of some empirical literature, and it is suggested that our theoretical microeconomic-based structure seems to be a suitable starting point for empirical research. [source] Critical Realism and Econometrics: Constructive Dialogue with Post Keynesian EconomicsMETROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2002Paul Downward The philosophy of science known as critical realism, as developed in economics, offers both a methodological critique of mainstream economics and a methodological foundation for alternative economic perspectives. Post Keynesian economics is a school of thought that has often been defined in terms of its opposition to the mainstream and has, to varying degrees, become allied to critical realism. Post Keynesians have not fully developed the detailed epistemological consequences of a commitment to critical realism. One such consequence is a possible tension over the use of econometric methods. This arises because, on the one hand, many of the epistemological pronouncements of critical realism imply the suspicion of econometric methods. On the other hand, many Post Keynesians regularly employ these methods in their desire to apply economic analysis. This paper examines these tensions and shows that drawing upon Post Keynesian economics a useful symbiosis of ideas is produced which has positive implications for the practice of critical,realist empirical work including econometrics. [source] | ||||||||||