Capitalism as we know it presents typical dialectical features that isolate it from nature, in which real oppositions make evolution revolutionary: A dialectical metaphysics replaces the free flow of events allowing capitalist relationships but preventing the practice of materialism. Some...

This article explores why a deep understanding of Marx's project is essential for developing an adequate science of society. Marx focused on two aspects of social reality that are critical to its understanding, but are absent from the contemporary practice of social science. First, he viewed...

The expression subsistence affluence is a catchphrase for certain perceptions of reality in Papua New Guinea, and after 50 years it still actively conditions opinions of the country (even though its population has trebled in the meantime). The paper examines antecedents of the concept in the...

Provides ethnographic observations and analysis of a laboratory experiment in economics.

Questions that people ask, when they hear that mandatory retirement has been repealing include: will people be forced to toil longer to stay financially healthy? Will they change careers later in life to keep their interest in a subject or explore new interests? How will working longer affect...

The research of the Centro in Portici in the 1970s shows the profound influence of the founder, Manlio Rossi-Doria. In particular, the specific culture characterising the social research developed at the Centro is a mix of different elements: an interdisciplinary methodological approach, ample...

Firms in modern western world are often said to encourage people to prioritize work over family life. This imbalance, some personnel psychologist claim, causes tension and unhappiness. The story, however, is not new. Something very similar happened during the shift from hunting and gathering to...

Debating markets requires debating values. To answer questions of how free markets affect women, we must first ask about standards of measurement. We should also ask how we can have a “free” market when the participants can never be free from gender bias.

Until about 13,000 years ago all humans obtained their food through hunting and gathering, but thereafter people in some parts of the world began a transition to agriculture. Recent data strongly implicate climate change as the driving force behind the transition in southwest Asia. We propose a...

This study investigated whether earnings inequality is associated with social capital as measured by active membership in organizations and interpersonal trust. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis showed that greater earnings inequality was associated with lower values on both measures...