BookRags.com Literature Guides Literature
Guides
Criticism & Essays Criticism &
Essays
Questions & Answers Questions &
Answers
Lesson Plans Lesson
Plans
My Bibliography Periodic Table U.S. Presidents Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up
Research Anything:        
History | Encyclopedias | Films | News | Create a Bibliography | More... Login | Register | Help


The Affluent Society Study Guide

Print-Friendly  Order the PDF version  Order the RTF version
by John Kenneth Galbraith
About 57 pages (17,154 words)
The Affluent Society Summary

Bookmark and Share

Critical Essay #6

Economists are fond of examining the role that self-interest plays in economic decisions. Most recently, some economists identified with the publicchoice school have won acclaim for examining the self-interest of politicians. But conspicuously absent from the spotlight exposing self-interest are economists themselves. If ever they succumb to a moment of self-examination, they become inclined to view themselves as participants in the honorable pursuit of knowledge, objectively applying the scientific method to questions of great social importance. The suggestion that their work might be slanted in some perverse fashion in order to favor the powerful in society - those in positions to provide jobs, contracts, or grants - is regarded as a profound insult.

Galbraith has ensured himself a reputation as a heretic by applying the same assumption of self-interest to the economist that the economist applies.....

This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 326 words. This study guide contains 17,154 words (approx. 57 pages at 300 words per page).

Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Affluent Society Access Pass.

Copyrights
The Affluent Society from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags




About BookRags | Customer Service | Report an Error | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy