Economics serves power more effectively when it operates in innocence of serving it

Evidence

Modern economic belief can be understood only as the servant, in substantial measure, of the society which nurtures it…. Nor is the service less important for being rendered, in the main, in innocence and in the name of scientific truth. On the contrary, were it arranged and paid for it would cease to be of much effect. The wiles of the prostitute can be far more professional and superficially compelling than those of her artless competition, but many more men succumb to the latter. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 241

Categorization

• XREF: Galbraith’s claim that unconscious service-of-power is more effective than paid-for propaganda resonates with Foucault’s point about power operating best when disguised. — connects to: Economic theories encode rival justifications for who should receive resources — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 121; Economics is lateral to governing, not its internal rationality — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1467; Economics’ legitimating power depends on the surrounding political and cultural context. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1194 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Economics is lateral to governing, not its internal rationality #corroborates (0.80) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1467
• Governments conflate capitalist economic rationality with rationality itself. #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 369
• Power relations interlock with economics without being subordinate to it. #corroborates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 33
• Economics’ legitimating power depends on the surrounding political and cultural context. #complicates (0.72) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1194
• Public legitimacy of economics rests on its predictive and prescriptive authority #contradicts (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 679
• Economics functions as both scientific method and vehicle for ruling ideology. #expands (0.70) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 607