[lbo-talk] Prediction...

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Tue Jul 27 06:56:28 PDT 2004


Joanna:.
>
> Why? No hard facts, it just has a nice dramatic/poetic symmetry. Is
> poetic justice in the economic lexicon?

Actually, there is considerable literature arguing that much economic behavior and organizational behavior is in fact mythology and superstition wrapped in pseudo-scientific lingo. Check John D. Meyer and Brian Rowan: Institutionalized organizations: formal structures as myth and ceremony, American Journal of Sociology 1977, 83:340-363. Check also Lee Clarke, Mission Improbable: Using Fantasy Documents to Tame Disaster, U of Chicago Press, 1999. Doug Henwood's critique of the Wall street and the new economy mantra goes along a similar line, I reckon.

I would venture as far as saying that about three fourths of what passes for "knowledge" today, especially in the realms of politics, social affairs, and economy, is bad poetry disguised as science.

Wojtek



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