The Social Movement World(s) of UK Heterodox Economics: Constitution, Aims and Practices

This thesis presents a systematic, empirically grounded, social-scientific account of UK heterodox economics. It does so by addressing three central questions: (1) How is UK heterodox economics constituted in discourse and in practice? (2) What does UK heterodox economics aim to achieve? and (3) How do these aspirations translate into practice? To answer these questions, the study synthesises insights from Frickel & Gross’s (2005) ‘general theory of scientific/intellectual movements (SIMs)’ and the ‘social worlds/arenas’ framework primarily advanced by Adele Clarke (2015; 2019; Clarke & Star, 2008) to theoretically frame UK heterodox economics as an ‘academic social movement world’ interacting with other worlds in different arenas. Methodologically, the project employs a three-phase, iterative mixed-methods approach, including 34 semi-structured interviews, ethnographic methods, a survey (n=71) and social network analyses (n=325). The study illustrates, first, how UK heterodox economics mobilises a collective identity through constructing the antagonism object of ‘mainstream economics’, which fosters internal cohesion around theoretical pluralism and left-leaning political values; second, how despite being marginalised within the economics discipline, UK heterodox economics leverages its diverse interaction networks to mobilise resources and create alternative epistemic infrastructures; and, third, how the social movement world of UK heterodox economics engages with discourses and worlds outside the academy, including policy worlds and the decolonisation movement. Beyond providing rich empirical insights into the constitution, aims and practices of UK heterodox economics, including its internal segmentations and dividing lines, the thesis makes several theoretical contributions to the study of academic social movements. The first is the development of the novel theoretical framework of ‘academic social movement worlds/arenas’, which, with its dual focus on the inner life of social worlds on the one hand and the activities of worlds within larger arenas on the other hand, bridges the gap between the structural-rational and socio-cultural traditions within social movement studies. The study also coins the new concepts ‘antagonism object’ and 'hegemonised epistemic arena' to better understand the dynamics of UK heterodox economics in particular and academic social movements more generally.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kolbe, Regina

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gabrys, Jennifer

• Heterodox Economics
• Social Studies of Science
• Science and Technology Studies
• Academic Social Movements
• Sociology of Academia
• Sociology of Economics

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/14805988-90a6-420d-bb9c-45acc3df1f3e/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.120462

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/387831