Merve Burnazoglu

Mainstream economics ignores who produces it and what it is about because its average man, Homo economicus ontological entry-point obscures social differences between people. Philosophy and Methodology of Economics that assumes this ontological entry point generally limits itself to epistemological analysis, and this means it fails to make diversity a fundamental concern. Taking diversity seriously entails being clear about one's ontological assumptions, and this requires being clear about the normative scope of one's analysis. This calls for giving up a value-neutral methodological reasoning and adopting a value-explicit methodological posture. To illustrate, we describe how Stratification economics with its social groups ontological entry-point shows societies are structured around hierarchical social group rankings that differentiate people according to their social identity status. We explain this in both micro-level and macro-level terms, show that together they produce systems of inclusion and exclusion, and argue that this raises issues of equality and justice.