Ideology and economics

The authors believe that the impact of ideology can be considered in three aspects: first, the impact on economics; secondly, on the institutional changes, and thirdly, on the economic system itself. This paper will focus on the impact of ideology on the development of economics. The authors review the standpoints of prominent economists on this issue and systematize them. The paper does not aim to consider types of ideology and its influence on the various processes of its functions in society. The authors use the definition of ideology common among researchers: a set of ideas, beliefs and values. An analysis of the views of many famous foreign economists, as well as domestic economists of the past and present on the impact of ideology on the economic theory, makes it possible to draw certain conclusions. Despite the beliefs of mainstream supporters that the economy being a positive science is free from ideology, representatives of alternative courses of economics actively explore the channels through which ideology affects economics. Scientists have indicated various elements of ideology in economics. They are associated with the choice of the object of study, the selection of the problems for investigation, the nature of the investigated relationships in the economic system, the selection of facts and proposed hypothesizes, and even ways to study problems in the economy. In addition, according to the researchers, worldview of a perceiving subject is influenced by the system of values inherent in a particular society. Attempts of the mainstream to enter into controversy with the representatives of alternative theories are associated with the desire to justify the scientific nature of economic theory and prove its equivalence to the natural sciences in its "integrity" of the analysis. However, following the logic of the economics' development, one can observe that attempts to introduce economic theory isolated from ideology are rejected by life itself. The peculiarity of the reality that economics has to deal with, directs it to a broader social approach, especially in terms of normative analysis. In modern economic theory, the relationship between the science and ideology is confirmed by the evolution of the modern neo-classicism and neo-institutionalism, which is completely determined by a system of neo-liberal values. The conditions of modern historical crucial point of social development, when the process of globalization is combined with the emergence of a new post-industrial economy, stimulate numerous attempts to develop some kind of a new paradigm. It is obvious that it is very important to search for new ways for holistic and objective assessment of the economy. However, it is equally clear that we are not immune to the invasion of new ideologies.

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