| Abstract: |
Transition is not just transition of formal institutions, convergence of price
levels and living standards. The closure or the gap in formal institutions is
probably less time demanding than the closure of ideological or mental gap,
created in many fields in academy or social life. Social sciences have been
erased during half a century and post-soviets still struggle for academic
prestige of these areas. We have seen many misunderstandings concerning the
interrelations, hierarchy and even object of study in social sciences.
Superiority of economics is sometimes created by market signals, or
superiority of some other discipline by “political signals”. Our aim is to
show that in the body of social sciences economics is a normal science which
can be defined by method, not by subject matter. We will introduce the
alternative methodological approaches to rational choice and indicate their
advantages and disadvantages. Mainly two questions are answered. First, is
there some alternative methodology which has been more successful in producing
efficient predictions and explanations of social affairs? Second, how
methodological criticism has changed rational choice perspectives and can
these changes be justified? Finally, changes in methodology of economics are
discussed showing that there is no clear answer – how to parcel our social
sciences? |