Economics, society and values - Owen Nankivell

This book seeks to achieve the difficult but essential task of setting economics in its wider social context. It does so by exploring the inter-relationship between technological and economic change and the consequent impact on social institutions and value sets. It makes the central point that the economy is constantly subject to change via the process of 'creative destruction' ? Schumpeter?s term that applies to the relationship between economics and social structures as well as the more limited field of techno-economic change. It also examines the way different social institutions seek to defend their structures and value bases against aggressive economic pressures. It brings out the apparent illogicality of the narrower economic model appearing to dominate the wider social model. It argues that a condition for an economic model to work successfully is that it is operated in ways consistent with wider social values; an issue debated in detail in the context of the current debate over the future form of the European Union.