Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(1):5-16 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.627

Obory společenských věd: odluka nebo spolupráce?

János Kornai
Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Study, Budapešť.

Disciplines of social sciences: separation or cooperation?

The author addresses the question of interdisciplinary studies based on his own experience. His negative experiences are confirmed by the results of a quantitative survey demonstrating that the proportion of citations from other disciplines is very low in four examined fields (economics, law, political science and sociology). But the overall picture is colored by positive examples: the theory of rational choice and game theory have broken the bounds of economics. Also multivariable regression analyses of time series of a large number of countries are not confined to economic phenomena. The spread of interdisciplinary studies is also shown in the way system paradigm has become a widely applied general approach. The author ends with three proposals: let us have a minimum conversancy with other disciplines, support interdisciplinary work, and promote the emergence of a new type of "social scientist".

Keywords: interdisciplinary studies, new type of social scienctist, play theory, the theory of rational choice, extra-disciplinary descriptive form, system paradigm, soft data
JEL classification: A11, A12, A2

Published: February 1, 2008  Show citation

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Kornai, J. (2008). Disciplines of social sciences: separation or cooperation? Politická ekonomie56(1), 5-16. doi: 10.18267/j.polek.627
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