A Metatheoretical Analysis of Socioeconomics

Ritzer, George

Publication

A Metatheoretical Analysis of Socioeconomics

Ritzer, George

Abstract

A good portion of the current debate over socio-economics and economic sociology has been framed in metatheoretical, particularly paradigmatic, terms. Having done a good deal of work in metatheory in general (Ritzer 1988, 1989b, 1990c), and paradigm analysis in particular (Ritzer 1975, 1981), I would like to address the current work in socio-economics, especially Amitai Etzioni's (1988) The Moral Dimension: Towarda New Economics, from those points of view. Such a metatheoretical examination should allow us to better understand these works, their objectives, and their strengths and weaknesses.