Pure economics expelled class analysis but smuggled class assumptions back in

Evidence

Indeed, pure economics operated to depoliticize economic theory by expelling class analysis, only to reintroduce classist assumptions covertly in their rigorous microeconomic calculations. In this manner, any class diff erence was the outcome of a diff erence in the extent of individual rational economic behaviors. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1304

Categorization

• XREF: This is the same rhetorical move contemporary critics make against neoclassical economics (Piketty, Mazzucato, the ‘economics is a choice’ critics). The ‘classless model’ as covert classist device echoes the ‘woke capitalism’ critiques from the other direction too. — connects to: Bourgeois economists avoided totalizing models out of class instinct — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 374; The ‘pure economics’ rebrand removed democratic scrutiny from economic policy — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 31; The economists’ classless models concealed openly classist beliefs — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1306 (+4 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The mechanism is surgical: depoliticization happens by expelling class as a category, then individual rational behavior is made to carry the entire explanatory weight — so inequality becomes a personal failure metric. This is the blueprint for modern technocratic economics.

Broader Connections

• The economists’ classless models concealed openly classist beliefs #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1306
• Neoclassical economics replaced class analysis with individualistic merit narratives #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 30
• Economics became ‘pure’ by excluding class and history, yet justified state coercion. #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 214
• Modern economics replaced the class-conflict lens of classical political economy with individualist harmony #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 30