Economists equated the bourgeoisie with homo economicus to naturalize class society

Evidence

At a moment when workers endorsed economic theories that put labor as the source of capital formation, these highly visible national experts championed an opposing set of theories: it was actually the saverinvestors who held the keys that propelled the system. In this manner, economists provided scientifi c grounds to naturalize a class society— and thus to justify its inevitability, and ultimately its fairness. Th ey did so by equating the members of the bourgeoisie with the concept of the homo economicus— a rational agent who acted out of selfinterest. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1128

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to Marxist critiques of bourgeois political economy and to modern ideology-critique of rational-agent models. — connects to: Bourgeois economists avoided totalizing models out of class instinct — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 374; Adam Smith’s homo economicus was culturally specific, not a natural universal type — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 86; Early industrial capitalism created homo economicus, a new market-defined subject. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the…, 460 (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Defines homo economicus as an ideological move equating the bourgeois class role with rational agency.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that equating a social class with a model of rational agency is itself the mechanism of naturalizing inequality is genuinely dense and foundational to understanding ideology as economic method.

Broader Connections

• Early industrial capitalism created homo economicus, a new market-defined subject. #expands (0.78) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 460