Education and "Competitive Entrepreneur"; Reflection of Transformation of the "Homo Economicus" from Classical Liberalism to Neoliberalism

Document Type : پژوهشی

Authors

• hamdollah mohammadi ¹
• Khosrow Bagheri ²
• Mahmood Talkhabi ³
• Mohammad Hasan Mirzamoohammadi ⁴

¹ Tehran University

² University of Tehran

³ Institution of Cognitive Science Studies

⁴ Shahed University

10.22067/fedu.v8i2.72474

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to examine the evolution of the concept of "Homo Economicus" from the Classical Liberalism to Neoliberalism. In order to achieve this goal, conceptual analysis method (conceptual structure assessment) has been used. The study of the homo economicus from Liberalism to Neoliberalism indicates that although Classical Liberals, such as Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, have been proposing the idea of an economic man, but in the Neoclassic economic school and, consequently, Neoliberalism, we are witnessing the emergence of a new conception of homo economicus as self-interested, rational, utility maximizer, and "competitive entrepreneur". While Neoliberals such as Gary Becker and James Buchanan advocate this notion of homo economicus, Friedrich Hayek proposes a different anthropological viewpoint that in some cases it is against the homo economicus. Hayek using theoretical foundation of cultural evolution and "spontaneous order", emphasizes on uncertainty, unequal and vague competition, and tradition as an efficient coordinator, and criticizes the human as rational agent in the Neoclassic economics. Neoliberalism, as a new "governmentality" based on the anthropological foundations (the combination of some Hayek's ideas with the homo economicus), has put into positive and controlling policies in educational institutions.

Keywords

• Neoliberalism
• homo economicus
• anthropology
• Education

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