Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?: A Story About Women and Economics (edition 2015)by Katrine Marcal (Author)
Work InformationWho Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? by Katrine Marçal
Books Read in 2016 (739) Books Read in 2020 (1,397) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. An interesting, well reasoned take on economic theory that provides a useful primer on the basics (which I forgot a very long time ago), and then cleverly dissects them to reveal the significant gaps. The central message being that economic theory ignores the value of work done by women and that this (possibly deliberate) oversight means that the theory the world spins on is dangerously flawed. It’s engagingly written throughout and never gets to heavy even if, like me, you’re not used to reading economics tomes. The feminist slant ends up feeling like common sense rather than a polemic and I can see myself reflecting back on the message in coming weeks and months. 2.5 stars This book started off fairly promisingly with a discussion of early economists, the economic man, and why economists love Robinson Crusoe. After a while, though, I found it to get repetitive. Yes, the reasoning surrounding economics and the economic man is circular, but for several chapters we didn't seem to go anywhere and then tiny things were added on like pointing out that all of economic man's traits were traditionally masculine traits and so women were naturally excluded. The book did have some good points but I'm not sure I got all that much out of it in the end. Your mileage may vary. I was also reading this while fuzzy-headed and sick (yes, I've progressed to that stage of sickness where reading is possible but a nap if I could manage it might be better for me), so that may have coloured my reading experience. I agree with much of the author's criticism of economics. I agree with her that women are still discriminated against. I disagree with her that the concept of homo oeconomicus is to blame for this state of affairs. The entire polemic is based on unsound logic and anachronistic arguments. The German translation is sloppy in parts where the translator didn't check his facts. And I can't help wondering why the German and English publishers chose such sensationalist titles for their translations where the original simply speaks of "The only sex"? no reviews | add a review
AwardsDistinctions
"When philosopher Adam Smith proclaimed that our actions are motivated by self-interest, he used the example of the baker and the butcher to lay the foundations for his "Economic man." He argued that they gave bread and meat for profit, not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's an ironic point of view coming from a bachelor who lived with his mother for most of his life-- a woman who cooked his dinner every night. Nevertheless, Smith's economic man has dominated our understanding of modern-day capitalism, Such a viewpoint disregards the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning, and cooking. Essentially, the father of modern economics has based our whole concept of capitalism on a system that ignores half of its participants. ...Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? charts the myth of the economic man, from its origins at Adam Smith's dinner table to its adaptation by the Chicago School to its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis."--Jacket flap. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)330.082Social sciences Economics Economics > WomenLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |