Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- 1 Why interpersonal relations matter for economics
- 2 From transactions to encounters: the joint generation of relational goods and conventional values
- 3 Fellow-feeling
- 4 Interpersonal interaction and economic theory: the case of public goods
- 5 Under trusting eyes: the responsive nature of trust
- 6 Interpersonal relations and job satisfaction: some empirical results in social and community care services
- 7 On the possible conflict between economic growth and social development
- 8 The logic of good social relations
- 9 The mutual validation of ends
- 10 Hic sunt leones: interpersonal relations as unexplored territory in the tradition of economics
- 11 Authority and power in economic and sociological approaches to interpersonal relations: from interactions to embeddedness
- 12 Interpersonal relations and economics: comments from a feminist perspective
- 13 Economics and interpersonal relations: ruling the social back in
- Envoi
- References
- Index
9 - The mutual validation of ends
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- 1 Why interpersonal relations matter for economics
- 2 From transactions to encounters: the joint generation of relational goods and conventional values
- 3 Fellow-feeling
- 4 Interpersonal interaction and economic theory: the case of public goods
- 5 Under trusting eyes: the responsive nature of trust
- 6 Interpersonal relations and job satisfaction: some empirical results in social and community care services
- 7 On the possible conflict between economic growth and social development
- 8 The logic of good social relations
- 9 The mutual validation of ends
- 10 Hic sunt leones: interpersonal relations as unexplored territory in the tradition of economics
- 11 Authority and power in economic and sociological approaches to interpersonal relations: from interactions to embeddedness
- 12 Interpersonal relations and economics: comments from a feminist perspective
- 13 Economics and interpersonal relations: ruling the social back in
- Envoi
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Interpersonal relations do not arise simply because there is an opportunity for exchange between individuals. These relations help constitute the individual and form a backdrop against which exchange can occur. The purpose of this chapter is twofold. One is to give an account of why interpersonal relations might be constitutive in this sense. The other is to illustrate why this is a significant observation.
In the next section I address the first of these and begin to lay the foundations for the second. Adam Smith's argument in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1976/1759) linking the interpersonal to the special pleasure that we gain from mutual sympathy is my starting point. I have chosen Smith in part because, unlike many contemporary economists, he offers a clear psychological account of this matter, which has been revived recently by Sugden (2002 and chapter 3 of this book). Smith is also interesting because he has the sketch of a more general argument that I shall develop, which is important as it brings out why the observation about the constitutive aspect of interpersonal relations might be significant.
The constitutive nature of interpersonal relations might matter in this sense for a variety of reasons. It could affect the explanations or prescriptions of economic theory and in doing this it might also mark a change in one of the key building blocks of that theory: the model of rational agency.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Economics and Social InteractionAccounting for Interpersonal Relations, pp. 190 - 205Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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