The Disputes between Orthodox and Heterodox: What is (and what is not) Economics

ABSTRACT

This article aims at understanding how the boundaries of economics have been set. Using the Bourdieusian concept of the scientific field, it identifies and analyzes the relationships established between orthodox and heterodox, as well as among orthodox, heterodox and other agents in the field. As in previous studies, the graduate programs of PUC-Rio and FGV-Rio, on the one hand, and UFRJ and Unicamp, on the other, were taken respectively as paradigmatic examples of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The mapping of interaction networks shows that, despite the importance of the opposition between neoclassical liberalism and its critics, the continuous disputes around setting boundaries in economics is complex and multifaceted. Rather than being restricted to a confrontation between dominant and non-dominant agents, the field is home to orthodox and heterodox scholars of varying shades in various contexts.

the concept of economics; orthodoxy; heterodoxy; scientific field; sociology of knowledge