Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Cedrini, Mario
Author-Email: mario.cedrini@unito.it. 
Author-Name:  Fontana, Magda 
Author-Email: magda.fontana@unito.it. 
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: Mainstreaming. Reflections on the Origins and Fate of Mainstream Pluralism.
Abstract: There is considerable discussion on the so-called “mainstream pluralism”, which stems from the growth and 
coexistence of new research programs in economics that significantly deviate from the neoclassical core. 
Other disciplines have actively contributed to the birth of such programs, that are carried on by different, often 
separated communities of researchers. Although “mainstream pluralism” is not the pluralism heterodox economists and students
groups have sought for in the recent decades, its persistence over time might provide a possible precondition
for the advent of pluralism in economics. While the literature tends to regard mainstream pluralism as a transitory state towards
a new, post-neoclassical, mainstream, this paper contributes to the debate by bringing in a different perspective, 
focusing on economics’ fragmentation and the necessity of specialization. We adopt a “late Kuhnian” framework (derived 
from Kuhn’s late works on specialization), considering not scientific revolutions but specialization as key engine 
of progress in science, and interpret mainstream pluralism as the result of economics’ recent growth in size and dive
rsity. To account for the necessity of specialization in economics, we employ Ronald Heiner’s work on the competence-difficulty 
gap, as well as the evidence offered in some recent studies about the impact of the “burden” of previously accumulated 
knowledge on innovative behaviour. After a bird’s eye view on the recent history of economics in relation to other 
disciplines (and an analysis of Herbert Gintis’s “unity of behavioral sciences” proposal as possible new mains
tream), we discuss the possibility that today’s “mainstream pluralism” might persist over time. 
Length: 51 pages
Creation-Date: 2015-02
File-URL: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2015dip/wp_10_2015.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:cesmep:201501