Caroline Gerschlager – författare

Exchange is a pervasive concept in everyday life, affecting phenomena as diverse as interpersonal relationships and market transactions. In addition, economists have used the concept in a highly specific and clearly delineated way. Against this background, Expanding the Economic Concept of Exchange sets out to expand the concept of exchange by crossing the boundaries laid down by economists and by examining the function played by deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions. The main motivation for expanding the concept of exchange was the realization that in the prototypical economic model deception is not taken into account. Hence, economists traditionally regard deception as some sort of irrationality, as a flaw in an otherwise perfectly rational process. Authors represented in this volume take a different approach examining deception as a constituent quality of exchange. This is shown by the contributions drawing on recent developments in economic theory, by those with an anthropological orientation, as well as by a contribution referring specifically to Adam Smith. An interrogation into deception is long overdue in economics. This volume prepares the ground for and makes the first contributions to explicitly acknowledging deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions as fundamental dimensions allowing us as economists to further research and develop the concept of change. A particular and perhaps unexpected focus of this volume lies on anthropology, because economics can clearly benefit from integrating selected results on deception from outside its expanding domain. It is primarily targeted at economists interested in institutional aspects of exchanges and social theory. In addition, the topic will find interested readers from anthropology, cultural studies, science studies, philosophy.

The experience of deception is widespread in everyday life, where it appears in various forms, ranging from individual to the social deception. This book aims at expanding and correcting "malestream" economic concepts of the exchange economy and its role in society by focusing on deception from a feminist economic perspective. The main motivation for writing the book was the realization that the prototypical economic model of exchange is notable for the total absence of deception. In standard economic models individuals are regarded as "uncheatable". Hence deception, even if individuals have an interest in it, cannot succeed. By contrast, the authors of this volume examine deception as the key to understanding the functioning of exchange by focusing on settings in which deception is successful in exchange. The authors draw on Adam Smith's "Theory of Moral Sentiments" as a starting point for a discussion on feminist views and perspectives on exchange and deception. This is supplemented by examinations of economic thought and traditional economic modelling within a feminist economic framework and by empirical insights into the situation of women.

economic modelling and thought. Part three presents two case studies as examples of deceptive autonomy and shows the impact of this deception on the situation of women from the viewpoint of cultural studies and social anthropology. Part four relates methodological reflections on feminist and mainstream economics to the theme of the book. The first part of this book is devoted to a reconsideration of Adam Smith as a starting point for feminist perspectives on exchange. Drawing on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments Caroline Gerschlager sets the stage for expanding the economic concept of exchange. She analyses and develops Smith's insight that deception is inevitable in the social setting. Smith's system of sympathy, which Gerschlager analyses as a system of exchange, i.e. exchange is conceived in terms of changing places in the imagination, is compared with exchange as conceived by the neoclassical approach. Her analysis reveals that these approaches arrive at contrasting results with regard to deception. Whereas in the former deception is vital to an understanding of exchange, the latter regards deception as an inefficiency, hindering exchange and ultimately making it impossible. Gerschlager points out that a certain degree of deception is inevitable, and that living in society therefore also amounts to "deceiving and being deceived".

Exchange is a pervasive concept in everyday life, affecting phenomena as diverse as interpersonal relationships and market transactions. In addition, economists have used the concept in a highly specific and clearly delineated way. Against this background, Expanding the Economic Concept of Exchange sets out to expand the concept of exchange by crossing the boundaries laid down by economists and by examining the function played by deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions. The main motivation for expanding the concept of exchange was the realization that in the prototypical economic model deception is not taken into account. Hence, economists traditionally regard deception as some sort of irrationality, as a flaw in an otherwise perfectly rational process. Authors represented in this volume take a different approach examining deception as a constituent quality of exchange. This is shown by the contributions drawing on recent developments in economic theory, by those with an anthropological orientation, as well as by a contribution referring specifically to Adam Smith. An interrogation into deception is long overdue in economics. This volume prepares the ground for and makes the first contributions to explicitly acknowledging deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions as fundamental dimensions allowing us as economists to further research and develop the concept of change. A particular and perhaps unexpected focus of this volume lies on anthropology, because economics can clearly benefit from integrating selected results on deception from outside its expanding domain. It is primarily targeted at economists interested in institutional aspects of exchanges and social theory. In addition, the topic will find interested readers from anthropology, cultural studies, science studies, philosophy.

Exchange is a pervasive concept in everyday life, affecting phenomena as diverse as interpersonal relationships and market transactions. In addition, economists have used the concept in a highly specific and clearly delineated way. Against this background, Expanding the Economic Concept of Exchange sets out to expand the concept of exchange by crossing the boundaries laid down by economists and by examining the function played by deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions. The main motivation for expanding the concept of exchange was the realization that in the prototypical economic model deception is not taken into account. Hence, economists traditionally regard deception as some sort of irrationality, as a flaw in an otherwise perfectly rational process. Authors represented in this volume take a different approach examining deception as a constituent quality of exchange. This is shown by the contributions drawing on recent developments in economic theory, by those with an anthropological orientation, as well as by a contribution referring specifically to Adam Smith. An interrogation into deception is long overdue in economics. This volume prepares the ground for and makes the first contributions to explicitly acknowledging deceptions, self-deceptions and illusions as fundamental dimensions allowing us as economists to further research and develop the concept of change. A particular and perhaps unexpected focus of this volume lies on anthropology, because economics can clearly benefit from integrating selected results on deception from outside its expanding domain. It is primarily targeted at economists interested in institutional aspects of exchanges and social theory. In addition, the topic will find interested readers from anthropology, cultural studies, science studies, philosophy.