A Note on Arjun Appadurai's 'The Spirit of Calculation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8242005 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Keith Hart (0000-0002-8978-0191) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2012-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7674 • E-ISSN: 2047-7716 |
| Publisher | Berghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3167/ca.2012.300103 |
| OpenAlex | W2169374383 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
This note revisits Weber (especially his General Economic History) and Knight on risk and calculation, while adding commentary based on some other authors, notably Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Some recent ethnographies of finance are considered, as well as popular literature on making money. The future is unknowable, but modern societies train their members to expect to pin down future time. Precise calculation of future outcomes is a chimera, one of the principal causes of the recent financial collapse. Reasoning works best backwards as rationalization and this is scientific method. Extrapolation from the past to the future is where it all breaks down
Economics · Epistemology · Extrapolation · Knight · Neoclassical economics · Positive economics · Rationalization (economics · Sociology · Economic, financial, and policy analysis · Mathematics · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,36 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2019 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |