Abstract
This paper refracts Gordon Tullock’s The Social Dilemma onto a framework of spontaneous order theorizing, and finds the refraction to work well. The Social Dilemma reveals Gordon Tullock to be a theorist whose conceptualizations are anchored in a societal setting represented better by networks than by fields, and where societal outcomes emerge out of local networked interaction. The theoretical orientation of The Social Dilemma is redolent with spontaneous order themes, including his adoption of a field of vision that looks for social order west of Babel and not east of Eden. The paper also makes some secondary effort to compare The Social Dilemma with James Buchanan’s The Limits of Liberty.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buchanan, J. M. (1975). The limits of liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Buchanan, J. M., & Tullock, G. (1962). The calculus of consent. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Buchanan, J. M. (1987). The qualities of a natural economist. In C. K. Rowley (Ed.), Democracy and public choice: Essays in honor of Gordon Tullock (pp. 9–19). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Coser, L. (1956). The functions of social conflict. New York: Free Press.
Daiches, D., Jones, P., & Jones, J. (1986). A hotbed of genius: The Scottish enlightenment, 1730–1790. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Ellsberg, D. (1956). The theory of the reluctant duelist. American Economic Review, 46, 909–923.
Epstein, J., & Axtell, R. (1996). Growing artificial societies: Social science from the ground up. Cambridge: MIT.
Friedman, M. (1953). Essays in positive economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gloria-Palermo, S. (1999). The evolution of Austrian economics: From Menger to Lachmann. London: Routledge.
Hayek, F. A. (1960). The constitution of liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ostrom, V. (1997). The meaning of democracy and the vulnerability of democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Potts, J. (2000). The new evolutionary microeconomics: complexity, competence, and adaptive behaviour. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Reder, M. W. (1982). Chicago economics: Permanence and change. Journal of Economic Literature, 20, 1–38.
Resnick, M. (1994). Turtles, termites, and traffic jams: Explorations in massively parallel microworlds. Cambridge: MIT.
Schelling, T. C. (1978). Micromotives and macrobehavior. New York: Norton.
Schmookler, A. B. (1984). The parable of the tribes: The problem of power in social evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tullock, G. (Ed.). (1972). Explorations in the theory of anarchy. Blacksburg: University Publications.
Tullock, G. (Ed.). (1974). Further explorations in the theory of anarchy. Blacksburg: University Publications.
Tullock, G. (1987). Autocracy. Boston: Kluwer.
Tullock, G. (1974). The social dilemma: The economics of war and revolution. Blacksburg: University Publications.
Tullock, G. (2005). The social dilemma: Of autocracy, revolution, coup d’etat, and war. In C. K. Rowley (Ed.), The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, Vol. 8. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Viner, J. (1961). Hayek on freedom and coercion. Southern Economic Journal, 27, 230–236.
Vriend, N. J. (2002). Was Hayek an ace? Southern Economic Journal, 68, 811–840.
Young, H. P. (1998). Individual strategy and social structure. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wagner, R. E. (1987a). James Buchanan: Constitutional political economist. Regulation, 11(February), 13–17.
Wagner, R. E. (1987b). Gordon Tullock as rhetorical economist. In C. K. Rowley (Ed.), Democracy and public choice: Essays in honor of Gordon Tullock (pp. 27–38). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Wagner, R. E. (2004). Public choice as an academic enterprise: Charlottesville. Blacksburg, and Fairfax retrospectively viewed. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 63, 55–74.
Wagner, R. E. (2007, forthcoming). Value and exchange: Two windows for economic theorizing. Review of Austrian Economics, 20
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wagner, R.E. Finding social dilemma: West of Babel, not east of Eden. Public Choice 135, 55–66 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9247-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9247-9