The economic approach to human behaviour under scrutiny: an overview of arguments for the autonomy of social action

The article reviews and re-examines some arguments against the treatment of social action within the economic approach as an extension of economic beh aviour/ rationality and thus against its denial of the specific, irreducibl e nature of the extra-economic. A major argument is that social action is a sui generis phenomenon that cannot be reduced with theoretical impunity to its economic modalities. Serial action is characterized by substantial aut onomy relative to economic behaviour/ rationality. Arguments about the auto nomous character of social action seek to remedy the indiscriminate extensi on of the economic approach beyond the field of economy to all human behavi our construed as consistent utility maximization These arguments adduce cer tain classes of factors (socio-psychological, socio-cultural socio-systemic and others) contributing toward the autonomy of social action. In addition , the economic-approach treatment of the human actor as Home economicus is reversed by conceiving the economy as a domain of social action of which ec onomic behaviour is a special case.