Homo Oeconomicus and His Class Mates

Abstract

A French rendition of this essay, under the title “L’Homo oeconomicus et ses collègues,” was included inLes Fondements philosophiques des systèmes economiques, a volume published in 1967 in honor of Jacques Rueff, member of the Académie Française. Since the ideas presented in my essay have been significantly influenced by the work of Alfred Schutz, since my intellectual debt to him is gratefully acknowledged in text and footnotes, and since my strong emphasis on some Schutzian theses can be regarded as homage and obeisance to my old friend and mentor, the inclusion of the English version of my essay in this volume in memory of Alfred Schutz is entirely appropriate. At the editor’s suggestion, a section on Schutz’s disquisitions on the “ideal type,” which I had originally published in a German article, was inserted.