[Zurück]

G. Hanappi, E. Hanappi-Egger:
"Diversity of Diversity. A transdisciplinary consideration of a pivotal concept";
Vortrag: Eastern Economic Association, New York; 08.05.2013 - 12.05.2013; in: "xxx", G. Hanappi, E. Hanappi-Egger (Hrg.); 1 (2013), S. 14 - 24.

The use of the word `diversity´ has become quite fashionable in several sub-disciplines of the social sciences (including economics) recently. Unfortunately this common usage hides the variety of meanings, which the concept `variety´ has in the different domains of scientific discourse - hence the title of this paper. It sets out to shed some light on this sometimes confusing situation by starting with a discussion of the two rather opposed uses of `diversity´ in the area of gender and race discrimination on the one hand, and in the area evolutionary economics on the other hand.
It turns out that despite the enormously divergent context of `diversity´ in these two scientific discourses there is a common denominator, which allows bridging the gap: coalition formation. Emergence and even necessity to build - at least transitory - new units consisting of heterogeneous members to improve welfare turns out to be an underlying theme in both areas.
The final part of the paper will generalize this issue beyond the example of the two specific scientific discourses. In particular it will direct the attention towards how to learn general properties using special cases. Since the formation of coalitions to strengthen progressive powers in contemporary global political economy is one of the most urgent tasks, the concluding part of the paper tries to draw some lessons in this respect.

Diversity, discrimination, evolutionary political economy, coalition formation

Projektleitung Gerhard Hanappi:
Systemrisiko, Finanzkrise und Kredit - die Wurzeln, Dynamiken und Konsequenzen der Subprime-Krise