The economic adventures of Robinson Crusoe : an institutionalist critique and reinterpretation

Download

index.pdf

Date

2011

Author

Karagöz, Ufuk

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

302
views

113
downloads

In 1719, Daniel Defoe wrote his first fiction The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe without knowing that the protagonist of the novel, Robinson Crusoe, would be liberated from his cultural matrix and deployed as a dominant economic metaphor with the advent of the so-called marginalist revolution in the second half of the nineteenth century. This thesis intends to: i) with reference to an habits of thought approach, unearth the institutional nature of the metamorphosis of Crusoe from a figure of the literary realm to the economic man of neoclassical economics, and ii) based on a rereading of Defoe’s original text, offer an alternative reinterpretation which would turn upside down the prevalent presuppositions of neoclassical economics portraying an isolated, universal and axiomatically rational Crusoe. Accordingly, in this study, Crusoe is presented as a specific time- and space-bound human being preserving and perpetuating his institutionally forged character traits even during his sojourn on the ‘institution-free’ uninhabited island; a methodological and expeditious man, whose rationality was based not on the fulfillment of axioms but on reasoning; and an entrepreneur aiming at economic development through innovation.

Subject Keywords

Economics, Economic history

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613785/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/21062

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

The book, the body and architectural history in Peter Greenaway's cinematography Horuz, Semra; Enginsoy Ekinci, Ayşe Sevil; Department of History of Architecture (2010) This thesis is an attempt to explore the “axis of innumerable relationships” of the book which Jorge Luis Borges touches upon. In doing this, it deals with the questions of “whats”, “whos”, “whens” and “wheres” of the reading activity. While scrutinizing these aspects of reading, the main concern is to reach the “whys” and “hows” of it. Referring to Roger Chartier’s definition of reading, there are three main components of this activity, as the content of the book, the material form of the book and the prac...
The Origin of Virtue: Bernard Mandeville's Skilful Politicians Cesmeli, Isil (2017-06-01) Bernard Mandeville is well-known with his portrayal of selfish human nature and his design of prosperous society comprised of the vilest characteristics and the basest passions of mankind in his famous work, The Fable of the Bees. Long before the publication of The Fable in his satirical poem, "The Grumbling Hive", he narrates a parable based on a prosperous hive which is full of vicious bees. All fables show folly of mankind and urge people to self-analysis and lessoning in the end. Along the same line, Ma...
Spatial-temporal fixed and hegemonic transitions in the historical capitalism Taşkesen, Suat; Tayfur, Mehmet Fatih; Department of International Relations (2010) This thesis analyzes the historical capitalism in a historical context. ccumulation cycles, hegemonic transitions, and their interrelated structures n the historical capitalism will be discussed alongside inspired prose, and completed final drafts. The thesis will also trace the causes and effects of accumulation cycles and hegemonic transitions and will seek to answer questions such as how and why those cycles and transitions ocur, what are the determinants and how and why those determinants effect those p...
A Sartrean reading of John Fowles’s the collector and the french lieuteant’s woman Karsli, Zehra; Korkut Naykı, Nil; Department of English Literature (2019) This thesis is an attempt to explore how John Fowles’s protagonists in his two novels The Collector and The French Lieutenant’s Woman experience Sartrean existentialism and their striving for freedom and authenticity. This study aims at the portrayal of these characters as inauthentic according to the themes and concepts of Sartrean existentialism along with Fowles’s view of the acclaimed ideology. The study purposes to draw the similarities and differences between Sartrean and Fowlesian understanding of fr...
The Voice of the Imperial in an Anti-Imperialist Tone: George Orwell’s Burmese Days Ağın, Başak (2012-09-01) First published in 1934, George Orwell’s Burmese Days, which can be read as an example of both descriptive realism and fictional realism, is considered to be a colonial example of British literature because of its publication date. However, based on the personal experience of the author as an imperial officer in Burma, the novel has an anti-imperialist tone, which can also make it possible to read it through postcolonial eyes. As a result, the novel stands as an example of ambivalence since it has both the ...

Citation Formats

U. Karagöz, “The economic adventures of Robinson Crusoe : an institutionalist critique and reinterpretation ,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2011.