Stephen Parsons
Biographic Data
| ID | 4392126 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Parsons |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Parsons |
| SIGNATURE | PARSONS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | De Montfort University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0428-9732 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Digital Compilation and Restoration of Herculaneum Fragment P.Herc.118
Ancient documents pose many challenges for the scholars who painstakingly study and elucidate them. Natural deterioration occurs over time, erasing words and sentences that were once apparent. Water and fire damage can render text completely unreadable. Wrinkles and folds obscure content essential to meaning. Thankfully, old and new imaging methods can today be combined to rescue “lost” text and make it once again accessible to scholars. Using co…
Entrepreneurs and Uncertainty
In Economy and Society, Max Weber develops a sociological analysis of economic action, drawing upon ideas developed in the Austrian School of Economics. Despite this Austrian influence, Weber is quite clear his sociological analysis does not constitute an exercise in economic theory. Weber’s account of entrepreneurial action makes it possible to appreciate the distinctness of his sociological analysis of economic action. Weber argues that entrepr…
The St. Chad Gospels
Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies - Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 2017
Freedom, Responsibility and Economics of the Person
Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
This unique study into the roots of Max Weber's Political Economy, is an intriguing read and a valuable contribution to the Weberian literature. Parsons argues that Weber's analysis is highly influenced by the Austrian School of Economics and the relationship between his critique of centrally planned economies and that of Mises.
Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
Marginalizing Weber
In a recent Special Edition of Max Weber Studies, devoted to investigating the question of Weber's relationship to economics, a number of authors assume that there is a considerable distance between Weber's economic sociology and marginal economic theory. Although this assumption is fairly common in the literature on Weber's economic sociology, the following investigation will reject it. Rather, it argues that Weber's sociological investigation i…
The Rationality of Voting
According to rational choice theory, voting is an irrational act as the possibility of one vote influencing an election is minimal, yet voting incurs costs. However, individuals do vote. Keith Dowding has recently attempted to resolve this ‘paradox of voting’ through modifying the rational choice framework. Dowding argues that individuals vote out of a sense of duty, where this modification preserves the idea that individuals maximise their utili…
Max Weber and Economic Sociology
Peukert (2004) argues that Weber's work is only of limited relevance to present-day economic sociology because it incorporates "a rather narrow and static understanding of rationality and the economy." This article disputes that claim. It is argued that Weber differentiates between economic and sociological perspectives on the economy through incorporating uncertainty into the latter. Hence Weber's economic sociology develops the distinction betw…
Fair-Play Obligations
McDermott rejects the argument that an individual, in receiving benefits from a political community, thus incurs a ‘fair-play obligation’ to contribute to the provision of these benefits. While acknowledging that an individual receiving benefits without contributing is ‘free riding’ and that free riding may be morally wrong, McDermott denies that such moral lapses entail communities having any right to demand support. Not contributing may be mora…
A Response to the Claim 'There is no Problem for Transcendental Realism Here
My review of Tony Lawson's book Economics and Reality sought to clarify the nature of transcendental realism (TR) and indicate disagreements with its claims. I thank Jochen Runde for taking the time and trouble to respond to my review. Reading Runde's response made me aware that various points in my initial review were possibly not as clearly formulated as they could have been. I am thankful for the opportunity to remedy this deficiency. I would …
Max Weber, Socialism, and the Space for Time
In Economy and Society Weber provides a detailed criticism of socialism emphasizing the dynamic nature of the formal rationality of economic action, thus indicating the limits of bureaucratic rationality. Unfortunately, Weber's critique has received scant attention, commentators concentrating instead on remarks in his political essays. Weber's main argument against socialism is that it would lead to a decrease in formal rationality. Drawing upon …
Economics and Reality
In Economics and Reality Tony Lawson seeks to criticise and offer an alternative to mainstream economic theorising. The book draws upon the work of Bhaskar, advocating a form of realism termed transcendental realism, in opposition to the empirical realism taken to underpin mainstream theorising. However, the specific objections advanced by Lawson against empirical realism are frequently confused and confusing. Lawson's own appeal to structures su…
Shackle, nihilism, and the subject of economics ∗
Shackle's economic theories have frequently been labelled ‘nihilistic’, and thus of dubious interest to economists. An examination of this charge reveals it to be meaningless. Through focusing on Nietzsche’s diagnosis of nihilism, it is ossible to conclude that mainstream economics, through appealing to models and concepts explicitly acknowledged to be fictitious, itself denies reality and life, and is thus nihilistic. However, desite suggestions…
Explaining Technology and Society The Problem of Nature in Habermas
Aspects of Information Technology
Postmodernist writers question the applicability of universal narratives to contemporary societies. Through an investigation of the introduction/construction of information technology (IT) in the NHS, it is possible to discern processes of universalisation. The phenomena of money, needs, and time all provide universal media which orientate developments in IT. This orientation is possible in so far as these media facilitate universal communication…
On the Logic of Corporatism
Economic Principles in the Public and Private Sectors
The last few years have witnessed repeated claims that entrepreneurial activity can alleviate problems in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, policy initiatives aimed at increasing financial accountability have been developed for the public sector, encouraging managers to take responsibility for the financial effects of decisions. This paper investigates the understanding of entrepreneurial activity of the Austrian School of economi…
Economic Principles in the Public and Private Sectors
The last few years have witnessed repeated claims that entrepreneurial activity can alleviate problems in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, policy initiatives aimed at increasing financial accountability have been developed for the public sector, encouraging managers to take responsibility for the financial effects of decisions. This paper investigates the understanding of entrepreneurial activity of the Austrian School of economi…
The Rationality of Voting
According to rational choice theory, voting is an irrational act as the possibility of one vote influencing an election is minimal, yet voting incurs costs. However, individuals do vote. Keith Dowding has recently attempted to resolve this ‘paradox of voting’ through modifying the rational choice framework. Dowding argues that individuals vote out of a sense of duty, where this modification preserves the idea that individuals maximise their utili…
Max Weber and Economic Sociology
Peukert (2004) argues that Weber's work is only of limited relevance to present-day economic sociology because it incorporates "a rather narrow and static understanding of rationality and the economy." This article disputes that claim. It is argued that Weber differentiates between economic and sociological perspectives on the economy through incorporating uncertainty into the latter. Hence Weber's economic sociology develops the distinction betw…
Fair-Play Obligations
McDermott rejects the argument that an individual, in receiving benefits from a political community, thus incurs a ‘fair-play obligation’ to contribute to the provision of these benefits. While acknowledging that an individual receiving benefits without contributing is ‘free riding’ and that free riding may be morally wrong, McDermott denies that such moral lapses entail communities having any right to demand support. Not contributing may be mora…
Economics and Reality
In Economics and Reality Tony Lawson seeks to criticise and offer an alternative to mainstream economic theorising. The book draws upon the work of Bhaskar, advocating a form of realism termed transcendental realism, in opposition to the empirical realism taken to underpin mainstream theorising. However, the specific objections advanced by Lawson against empirical realism are frequently confused and confusing. Lawson's own appeal to structures su…
Shackle, nihilism, and the subject of economics ∗
Shackle's economic theories have frequently been labelled ‘nihilistic’, and thus of dubious interest to economists. An examination of this charge reveals it to be meaningless. Through focusing on Nietzsche’s diagnosis of nihilism, it is ossible to conclude that mainstream economics, through appealing to models and concepts explicitly acknowledged to be fictitious, itself denies reality and life, and is thus nihilistic. However, desite suggestions…
On the Logic of Corporatism
On the Logic of Corporatism
Economic Principles in the Public and Private Sectors
The last few years have witnessed repeated claims that entrepreneurial activity can alleviate problems in both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, policy initiatives aimed at increasing financial accountability have been developed for the public sector, encouraging managers to take responsibility for the financial effects of decisions. This paper investigates the understanding of entrepreneurial activity of the Austrian School of economi…
Aspects of Information Technology
Postmodernist writers question the applicability of universal narratives to contemporary societies. Through an investigation of the introduction/construction of information technology (IT) in the NHS, it is possible to discern processes of universalisation. The phenomena of money, needs, and time all provide universal media which orientate developments in IT. This orientation is possible in so far as these media facilitate universal communication…
Explaining Technology and Society The Problem of Nature in Habermas
Shackle, nihilism, and the subject of economics ∗
Shackle's economic theories have frequently been labelled ‘nihilistic’, and thus of dubious interest to economists. An examination of this charge reveals it to be meaningless. Through focusing on Nietzsche’s diagnosis of nihilism, it is ossible to conclude that mainstream economics, through appealing to models and concepts explicitly acknowledged to be fictitious, itself denies reality and life, and is thus nihilistic. However, desite suggestions…
Economics and Reality
In Economics and Reality Tony Lawson seeks to criticise and offer an alternative to mainstream economic theorising. The book draws upon the work of Bhaskar, advocating a form of realism termed transcendental realism, in opposition to the empirical realism taken to underpin mainstream theorising. However, the specific objections advanced by Lawson against empirical realism are frequently confused and confusing. Lawson's own appeal to structures su…
A Response to the Claim 'There is no Problem for Transcendental Realism Here
My review of Tony Lawson's book Economics and Reality sought to clarify the nature of transcendental realism (TR) and indicate disagreements with its claims. I thank Jochen Runde for taking the time and trouble to respond to my review. Reading Runde's response made me aware that various points in my initial review were possibly not as clearly formulated as they could have been. I am thankful for the opportunity to remedy this deficiency. I would …
Max Weber, Socialism, and the Space for Time
In Economy and Society Weber provides a detailed criticism of socialism emphasizing the dynamic nature of the formal rationality of economic action, thus indicating the limits of bureaucratic rationality. Unfortunately, Weber's critique has received scant attention, commentators concentrating instead on remarks in his political essays. Weber's main argument against socialism is that it would lead to a decrease in formal rationality. Drawing upon …
Fair-Play Obligations
McDermott rejects the argument that an individual, in receiving benefits from a political community, thus incurs a ‘fair-play obligation’ to contribute to the provision of these benefits. While acknowledging that an individual receiving benefits without contributing is ‘free riding’ and that free riding may be morally wrong, McDermott denies that such moral lapses entail communities having any right to demand support. Not contributing may be mora…
The Rationality of Voting
According to rational choice theory, voting is an irrational act as the possibility of one vote influencing an election is minimal, yet voting incurs costs. However, individuals do vote. Keith Dowding has recently attempted to resolve this ‘paradox of voting’ through modifying the rational choice framework. Dowding argues that individuals vote out of a sense of duty, where this modification preserves the idea that individuals maximise their utili…
Max Weber and Economic Sociology
Peukert (2004) argues that Weber's work is only of limited relevance to present-day economic sociology because it incorporates "a rather narrow and static understanding of rationality and the economy." This article disputes that claim. It is argued that Weber differentiates between economic and sociological perspectives on the economy through incorporating uncertainty into the latter. Hence Weber's economic sociology develops the distinction betw…
Marginalizing Weber
In a recent Special Edition of Max Weber Studies, devoted to investigating the question of Weber's relationship to economics, a number of authors assume that there is a considerable distance between Weber's economic sociology and marginal economic theory. Although this assumption is fairly common in the literature on Weber's economic sociology, the following investigation will reject it. Rather, it argues that Weber's sociological investigation i…
Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
This unique study into the roots of Max Weber's Political Economy, is an intriguing read and a valuable contribution to the Weberian literature. Parsons argues that Weber's analysis is highly influenced by the Austrian School of Economics and the relationship between his critique of centrally planned economies and that of Mises.
Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
Freedom, Responsibility and Economics of the Person
The St. Chad Gospels
Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies - Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 2017
Entrepreneurs and Uncertainty
In Economy and Society, Max Weber develops a sociological analysis of economic action, drawing upon ideas developed in the Austrian School of Economics. Despite this Austrian influence, Weber is quite clear his sociological analysis does not constitute an exercise in economic theory. Weber’s account of entrepreneurial action makes it possible to appreciate the distinctness of his sociological analysis of economic action. Weber argues that entrepr…
The Digital Compilation and Restoration of Herculaneum Fragment P.Herc.118
Ancient documents pose many challenges for the scholars who painstakingly study and elucidate them. Natural deterioration occurs over time, erasing words and sentences that were once apparent. Water and fire damage can render text completely unreadable. Wrinkles and folds obscure content essential to meaning. Thankfully, old and new imaging methods can today be combined to rescue “lost” text and make it once again accessible to scholars. Using co…
Economics (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Positive economics (9 works) · Neoclassical economics (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Political Economy and Marxism (5 works)