Development in Hayek's social theorising

Tony Lawson

Christopher T. Saunders

pp. 125-154

in: Stephen F. Frowen (ed), Hayek: economist and social philosopher, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997

Abstract

Contemporary mainstream economics is in a state of some disarray. And as apparently increasing numbers of economists are reacting by searching for something more viable it is perhaps not surprising that the social theorising of Hayek is attracting significant attention. For Hayek long ago rejected the path of orthodoxy and set about attempting to elaborate an approach of greater relevance. Criticising in particular the reliance of mainstream economists upon positivist methods and procedures borrowed from the natural sciences, methods and so on that in Hayek's (1942–4) view "contributed scarcely anything to our understanding of social phenomena" (p. 21), Hayek spent many years attempting to charter a more viable, specifically social scientific, alternative project and route. It is this "non-scientistic" approach of Hayek that provides the focus here.