What Have We Learnt from Twenty Years of Economic Research into Culture?

International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 317-335

23 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2009 Last revised: 25 Jul 2010

See all articles by Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies

Date Written: October 12, 2009

Abstract

Ìn the past decades, economists have rediscovered culture. Yet, they do not build on earlier traditions, such as the old American institutionalism or German sociologists such as Weber and Sombart. The contemporary economic concept of culture is lacking a clear theoretical foundation, especially with relation to the humanities. Very often, it argues crudely reductionist because of the need to make culture compatibel with econometric methodology. I propose that a reconsideration of culture in economics has to start out from culture as a mechanism for reducing uncertainty, following North. This conception can also be reconciled with recent biological approaches to culture. Further, culture serves to stabilize individual identities in social interactions. An important conclusion from this is that single cultural traits rarely have a function or have adaptative value, but culture as a whole has a function.

Keywords: Culture in economics, uncertainty and culture, identity economics

JEL Classification: Z10

Suggested Citation

Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten, What Have We Learnt from Twenty Years of Economic Research into Culture? (October 12, 2009). International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 317-335, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1487443

Carsten Herrmann-Pillath (Contact Author)

Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies ( email )

Nordhäuserstr. 74
Erfurt, 90228
Germany

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