Economics imperialism and a transdisciplinary perspective

The decades of “economics imperialism”, when the economic approach to human behavior could progressively conquer territories traditionally occupied by other social sciences, reinforced the “unity” of economics. Conversely, today’s economics reflects a state of increasing, unprecedented fragmentation, and is increasingly called upon to participate in the development of a transdisciplinary perspective in social sciences. Starting from the intriguing parallel with the development of economics as separate discipline from the disintegration of political economy, this chapter focuses in particular on the recent evolution of the relationships between economics sociology and economics, and thereby reflects on the chances of reunification in social sciences.