Abstract
Ours is a world of numbers. One of the popular paradigms for scholarly work in the social sciences is a model whose fundamental concepts, at least in principle, are capable of measurement, and whose theoretical structures lead to numerically verifiable hypotheses expressed in terms of them. Ideas lacking the means of calibration are often discarded. The more quantitative the mathematical sophistication, the higher the esteem the investigation receives. This is certainly true in economics. Yet, it is quite clear that many of the urgent questions economists are called upon to answer concern phenomena which seemingly defy attempts to represent them numerically.
Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 1, no. 2 (Winter, 1978–79), pp. 113–128. © M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
The author would like to express his appreciation to I.F Pearce for many helpful discussions and comments. Thannks are also due to Sidney Weintraub for suggesting the essay’s title.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allen, R. G. D., Macro-Economic Theory (London: Macmillan, 1970).
Apter, D. E., The Politics of Modernization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965).
Arrow, K. J., and F. H. Hahn, General Competitive Analysis (San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1971).
Dalkey, N. C., R. Lewis, and D. Snyder, “Measurement and Analysis of the Quality of Life,” in Studies in the Quality of Life, N. C. Dalkey, ed. (Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1972), Ch. 4.
Goodenough, W. H., Cooperation in Change (New York: Wiley, 1966).
Hagen, E., On the Theory of Social Change (Chicago: Dorsey, 1962).
Katzner, D. W., “Political Structure and System and the Notion of Logical Completeness,” General Systems 14 (1969), pp. 169–171. (This volume, Essay 13.)
Katzner, D. W., “On the Analysis of Systems Containing Non-Quantifiable Elements,” Kybernetes 2 (1973), pp. 147–155.
Katzner, D. W., Analysis Without Measurement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
Pareto, V., The Mind and Society, A. Bongiorno and A. Livingston, trans. (New York: Dover, 1935).
Parsons, T., The Structure of Social Action (2 vols.), 2nd ed. (New York: Free Press, 1968).
Pfanzagl, J., Theory of Measurement, 2nd ed. (Würzburg/Vienna: Physica-Verlag, 1971).
Riker, W. H., and P. C. Ordeshook, An Introduction to Positive Political Theory (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973).
Robinson, W. S., “A Method for Chronologically Ordering Archaeological Deposits,” American Antiquity 16 (1951), pp. 293–301.
Weber, M., The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, T. Parsons, trans. (New York: Scribner, 1956).
Weber, M., The Sociology of Religion, F. Fischoff, trans. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963).
References
Apter, D. E., The Politics of Modernization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965).
Blau, P. M., and O. D. Duncan, The American Occupational Structure (New York: Wiley, 1967).
Brennan, T. J., “On Not Quantifying the Nonquantifiable,” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 2 (1979–80), pp. 267–270.
Coopersmith, S., The Antecedents of Self-Esteem (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1967).
Fromm, E., The Sane Society (New York: Rinehart, 1955).
Georgescu-Roegen, N., The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971).
Gintis, H., and D. W. Katzner, “Profits, Optimality, and the Social Division of Labor in the Firm,” in Sociological Economics, L. Lévy-Garboua, ed. (London: SAGE, 1979), Ch. 9. Reprinted in D. W. Katzner, Analysis without Measurement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), Ch. 11.
Goodenough, W. H., Cooperation in Change (New York: Wiley, 1966).
Katz, E., and P. F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1955).
Katzner, D. W., “On Not Quantifying the Nonquantifiable,” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 1, no. 2 (Winter 1978–79), pp. 113–128. This volume, the previous part of Essay 4.
Katzner, D. W., Choice and the Quality of Life (Beverly Hills: SAGE, 1979).
Katzner, D. W., “The Formal Structure of Argument in Professor Apter’s Choice and the Politics of Allocation” Political Methodology, 6 (1979), pp. 217–235. This volume, Essay 14.
Katzner, D. W., and J. E. Russo, “Occupational Preferences and the Quality of Life,” Social Science Research 6 (1977), pp. 363–378. Reprinted in D. W. Katzner, Analysis without Measurement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), Ch. 14.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Katzner, D.W. (2001). On Not Quantifying the Non-Quantifiable. In: Unmeasured Information and the Methodology of Social Scientific Inquiry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1629-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1629-3_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5649-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1629-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive