Introduction

Intelligent discussion of the importance for economics of interpersonal relations is far overdue. This volume makes some substantial progress in opening up this critical area. As pointed out in a number of the chapters, ‘economic man’ – assumed to be autonomous, rational and self-interested – is a caricature of human nature. Theories based on this image sorely neglect human interdependencies, human emotions and the importance of social networks and institutions.

The pitfalls for economists entering this field, however, are many. One tempting – but, I believe, ultimately unsatisfactory – approach is to try to fit interpersonal relations within the pre-set taxonomies and methodological biases of mainstream contemporary economic thought. Another unsatisfying alternative is to treat interpersonal relations as radically ‘other’ – romanticising the subject and portraying it as a ‘soft’ area of research focused on harmony and good feeling, in stark contrast to the subject matter of standard, ‘hard’ economics. A third is to see interpersonal relations as primarily composed of politicised relations among opportunistic agents, bringing in issues of power but otherwise maintaining assumptions of self-interest. All these approaches, I believe, tend to distort the general class of phenomena beyond recognisability.

In my comments, I would like to point out where I see some of the contributions to this volume – sometimes subtly – falling into these traps, as well as where I see more satisfying analysis coming forth. My decades of work as a feminist economist are highly relevant to this task.