This book is a comprehensive investigation of the work of Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883–1950), one of the great economists of the twentieth century. In this study, Yuichi Shionoya highlights Schumpeter's methodological views and emphasizes his ideal of a universal social science. Taking on board all aspects of his work, he reconstructs a system which encompasses theory (economic statics, economic dynamics, economic sociology) and metatheory (philosophy of science, history and sociology of science). The originality of Schumpeter's work - which the author calls the two-structure approach to the evolution of mind and society - is examined in the light of the intellectual field in Germany and Austria in the early twentieth century. This book is a major contribution to the history of economic thought.

'Over the years, Yuichi Shionoya has produced a number of excellent articles on Schumpeter's methodology. … he has also produced a major work on this topic - and the result is truly outstanding.'

Richard Swedberg - University of Stockholm

'Shionoya's book offers a meticulous historical reconstruction of the great Central European's deepest thoughts about social science in general and economics in particular.'

Laurence S. Moss - Babson College, Massachusetts

'Professor Shionoya, more a student of Schumpeter's many writings than of the man himself, offers a comprehensive treatment of Schumpterism 'sans pareil'. He knits the many Schumpeter intuitions into a uniquely workable Gestalt.'

Mark Perlman - University of Pittsburgh

‘Yuichi Shionoya’s Schumpeter and the Idea of Social Science is the first sustained analysis of the foundations of Schumpeter’s thought oriented toward elucidating how and for what kind of purposes we may want to use the tools he put at our disposal. The result is a masterfully argued reconstruction of Schumpeter’s idea of a unified social science and its methodological and metatheoretical foundations that prepares the next step in the critical analysis of the form and content of Schumpeter’s thought … a must-read for everyone willing to confront this challenge of comprehending present and future transformations of capitalism.’

Harry F. Dahms Source: Journal of Evolutionary Economics

‘… an original interpretation of the birth of theoretical ideas and an extended reconstruction of the Schumpeterian cultural world.’

Source: Journal of Economics