The ontology of Original Institutional Economics and Social Positioning Theory
指出原始制度经济学在分析制度集群时缺乏社会构成理论,提出社会定位理论能补充这一缺陷,并丰富其权力理论,使权力分析覆盖社会各层面。
Abstract Original Institutional Economics (OIE) begins with the work of Thorstein Veblen, who built on evolutionary theorizing to articulate a combined biological and social ontology. Human beings evolved as social animals with propensities that shaped human relations, but the dominant factor in the constitution of social relations was the development of culture, including language. William Dugger’s 1980 article on power introduced a framework for analysing institutions in clusters. While interesting for various reasons, we note that this aspect of his analysis lacks a theory of social constitution and a framework for systematically examining the internal structure of these clusters and accurately describing their interrelationships. We argue that Social Positioning Theory (SPT) can offer a theory of social constitution that aligns with Dugger’s framework and enriches the theory of power he articulates by considering power at all levels of society, not just within institutions.