CFP: Moral Economy: New Perspectives. Call for Papers for a special issue of Journal of Global Ethics:

Submission deadline: July 15, 2014

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Call for Papers for a special issue of Journal of Global Ethics:

Moral Economy: New Perspectives

Katarina Friberg & Norbert Götz (guest editors)

Submission of abstracts: ASAP.  Submission of papers: 15 July 2014

   The two spheres of morals and economy have been closely intertwined throughout history, despite their assumed autonomy in our time. Economic choices entail moral consequences and moral endeavors are based on economic preconditions.

   In the eighteenth century, the composite term ‘moral economy’ aimed at reconciling two spheres that were then drifting apart. Despite its implicit potential for controversy and debate, the concept remained on the sidelines until E.P. Thompson picked it up in his 1971 article ‘The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century’. To him, the moral economy was a traditional consensus of crowd rights guaranteeing subsistence and legitimising riots when the old entitlements were swept away by market forces. In this sense, the concept of moral economy was that of an unequal conflict between traditional communal norms versus a morally indifferent capitalism.

    Authors have used the concept in unorthodox ways over the past few decades, and have applied it to modern society (e.g., Martin Kohli, Stefan Svallfors, Didier Fassin). Typically, studies diverging from the tradition of Thompson and his followers include references to his work, stating their differences without engaging in any further dispute. Thus, Thompson’s framework remains the standard in the field and the different approaches have not engaged in substantive discussion with each other.

    The special journal issue addresses this situation by applying a two-fold strategy. First, it allows different perspectives, including those sympathising with Thompson’s bottom-up approach, others that rethink moral economy as a fulcrum of modern civil society, and still others that envision moral economy as a mechanism that balances contradictory emotional forces. Second, it suggests that philanthropy and humanitarian enterprises may be better understood using the concept of moral economy. Jürgen Habermas’ ‘lifeworld,’ Virginia Held’s ‘global context’ of care, Peter Singer’s ‘one world,’ David Miller’s ‘particularist’ arguments, and other elaborations of cosmopolitan ethics and of non-cosmopolitan identities might be reconsidered in terms of moral economy. A multi-disciplinary collection should stimulate a discussion on ways to conceptualise moral economy and lead to a better utilisation of the concept’s analytical potential.

    This call for papers supplements work developed in ‘Moral Economy: New Perspectives on Humanitarian Relief and Global Civil Society,’ a workshop held in fall 2013 at the Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University, Stockholm. Contributors will include Johanna Siméant (University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne), Joakim Sandberg (University of Gothenburg), Pernilla Jonsson (Stockholm University), Monika Freier (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin), Rebecca Gill and Daryl Leeworthy (University of Huddersfield), Carolina Holgersson Ivarsson (University of Gothenburg).

    We invite papers from various disciplines, philosophy and others, that make explicit use of the concept ‘moral economy’. Papers should have no more than 8000 words and be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 200 words, and accepted submissions will appear in one issue of Journal of Global Ethics. Abstracts are welcome as soon as possible for immediate feedback.

    Please submit your abstracts and papers to Katarina Friberg ([email protected]) and Norbert Götz ([email protected]). Please make your interest in this project known to us as soon as is convenient, and please feel free to ask us any questions you might have.

Journal of Global Ethics: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjge20/current

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