Robinson Crusoe
The quintessential economic man
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12547210 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ulla Grapard (Colgate University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 33-52 |
| Publication date | 1995-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-5701 • E-ISSN: 1466-4372 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/714042213 |
| OpenAlex | W2141657348 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
The tale of Robinson Crusoe strikes a responsive chord in the imagination of many economists. This paper argues that the story of Robinson Crusoe, and the joy economists take in his example, are indicative of the way the discipline deals with issues of race and gender. Crusoe is used to represent homo economics par excellence, yet his self-sufficiency conceals the labor of others. A close reading of the novel reveals the issues of power, sexuality and race that are hidden underneath the storyline of Crusoe's relationship with Friday. The economists' portrait of equal exchange ignores the elements of domination and exploitation between Crusoe and Friday. The absence of female agency in Defoe's and the economists' story masks a narrative structure that, in fact, relies in fundamental ways on gendered representations. This process of exclusion mirrors the lack of recognition in our culture of the economic contribution of women. If Crusoe is taken to be the quintessential economic man, the economists' story imposes boundaries separating those who belong in economic discourse from those who do not. It also makes it easier for our discipline to avoid the ethical burden of addressing the disturbing issues of race and gender in our narratives
Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Excellence · Human sexuality · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Power (physics · Psychoanalysis · Race (biology · Social science · Sociology · Undoing · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Policy, and Dickens Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Travel Writing and Literature
Can we cast away Crusoe? A search for other edu/economic-leaderships
Adam-Akım İktisadın Öznesi “Homoeconomicus”u Toplumsal Cinsiyet Gözlüğü ile Okumak
If Markets Are So Wonderful, Why Can't I Find Friends at the Store
Minecraft and the Building Blocks of Creative Individuality
Feminism, Realism, and Universalism
Survey Article
Markets, Modernism, and Marx
Unsettling the Subject of Feminist Economics
Narrating Loneliness
Becoming a Master of an Island Again
Crusoe, Friday and the Raced Market Frame of Orthodox Economics Textbooks
Competing Models of Socially Constructed Economic Man
Manifold exploitations
Interdependency
Debating violence on the desert island
Rousseau's Crusoe myth
| Citations per year | 0.52 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1995 - 2025 (31) |
| Highly cited | No |