Thanks! Yeah! That’s just how we are thinking about it.
I like that observation, and it sounds just. Marxism, Keynesian economics, and various psychotherapeutic paradigms provide striking examples of theories that substantively influence the behavior they are meant to describe. And, as you say, the nature of their influence can be subtle and multifaceted—ranging from informing people’s expectations of others’ behavior and their own behavior to providing Schelling points for social coordination and introducing possible actions and strategies not previously salient or even imagined.
The best reference I know for a discussion of something like this is by the sociologist of science, Robert Merton in his 1948 “The Self-Fulling Prophecy.” In it, he considers mechanisms by which economic, psychological, and sociological theories become self-reinforcing or self-negating.
Thanks! Yeah! That’s just how we are thinking about it.
I like that observation, and it sounds just. Marxism, Keynesian economics, and various psychotherapeutic paradigms provide striking examples of theories that substantively influence the behavior they are meant to describe. And, as you say, the nature of their influence can be subtle and multifaceted—ranging from informing people’s expectations of others’ behavior and their own behavior to providing Schelling points for social coordination and introducing possible actions and strategies not previously salient or even imagined.
The best reference I know for a discussion of something like this is by the sociologist of science, Robert Merton in his 1948 “The Self-Fulling Prophecy.” In it, he considers mechanisms by which economic, psychological, and sociological theories become self-reinforcing or self-negating.