The Role of Vested Interests in the Evolution of the Notion of “Just World”

Abstract

To establish the meaning of a “just world” is a complex task as a “just world” is associated with a belief system of what is understood as right, wrong, desirable, or undesirable. The meaning of a “just world” is part of an evolutionary process that regards the material, social, and intellectual environments. As addressed by Thorstein Veblen, the same evolutionary process stablishes vested interests. This study investigates two different but related subjects: (1) key issues in establishing the notion of a “just world” in economics and society (economy); (2) the current perspective on a “just world” and its relationship with vested interests. Thereafter, the relationship between (1) and (2) is also introduced.

Keywords:

• just world
• vested interests
• capitalism

JEL Classification Codes:

• B52
• B25

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Ann Jennings (1993) and William Waller and Mary Wrenn (2021) introduce dualism to debate a feminist institutionalism. This study follows a complementary direction. It associates dualism with contemporary capitalism, or neoliberalism. Indeed, the world is not dual. Dualism is a possible perspective to analyze the world. There are several shades of gray; however, this study, by analytical means, relies on the dual extremes.

2 It should be noted that to examine the institution of a “just world,” this study relies on a key feature of institutionalism: the anthropological view of Walter Neale (1987). This view is necessary here as I identify myself as an institutionalist.

3 Wrenn’s definition relies on William Dugger (1989a and 1989b).

4 Different from the other dualisms addressed in this study, Lazzarato’s (2021) perspective is not widely shared among institutionalist studies. However, as for radical institutionalism (see Dugger 1980 and Wrenn 2022), power is key for Lazzarato (2021).

5 Polanyi was not an institutionalist per se; however, not only his writings have a strong connection with institutionalism (see Stanfield 1980) but also institutionalists often rely on Polanyi in their studies, such as Luz and Fernandez (2023), Wrenn (2016), and Carroll and Stanfield (2003).

6 In co-authorship with some colleagues and different perspectives of analysis, I relied on this common people– vested interests dualism to study the changing perspective in Brazilian governments in the recent years. See Gambus and Almeida (2017) and Maltaca and Almeida (2023).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Felipe Almeida

Felipe Almeida is a professor of economics at the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil). This research has been supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil.