INSTITUTIONS · Institutions and Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Economic Institutions

Institutions and Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Economic Institutions

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action “Institutions and Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Economic Institutions” draws its initial motivation from the emergence of a global financial crisis in 2007–2008 that consequently evolved into an economic period called “The Great Recession”, which was further compounded by a European sovereign debt crisis. In Europe, the economic crisis developed into a serious political challenge for the (economic) institutions of the monetary union and the existing institutional framework of the European Union as a whole. The future of the EU institutional framework will vastly depend on a comprehensive theoretical and interdisciplinary assessment, combined with a pragmatic transformative implementation. Although the academic study of the subject of (social) institutions is gaining significant attention in mainstream debates on ethics, sociology, politics, and economics, this Action aims to approach the concept of “Institution” from a different perspective, i.e., drawing from contemporary (continental) philosophy, Institutional schools in economics, and the Frankfurt School critical theory. The subsequent categorical work on institutions was motivated by these real-life events and the resulting challenges to existing institutions. The purpose was therefore to comprehend the meaning of institutions in a world absorbed in this unprecedented flux and propose a study that investigates the possibility of devising a critical theory of institutions in general, and of economic institutions in particular. Furthermore, the study expounds critical contributions to the theoretical understanding of economic institutions from a variety of disciplinary fields and it contributes to the establishment of a multidisciplinary account of social validity, economic function, ethical normativity, and political foundation. A complementary goal of this Individual Fellowship is to endow the fellow researcher with path-breaking interdisciplinary knowledge in philosophy, economics, sociology, and political science to foster the transition to intellectual maturity and leading research excellence.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union