Waubonsee Community College

Who cooked Adam Smith's dinner?, a story about women and economics, Katrine Marçal ; translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 198-227) and index

index present

non fiction

Who cooked Adam Smith's dinner?

bibliography

923794474

Katrine Marçal ; translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel

a story about women and economics

"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."--Dust jacket

Preface to the American edition -- Prologue -- In which we climb into the world of economics and ask ourselves who Adam Smith's mother was -- In which we are introduced to economic man and realize that he is incredibly seductive -- In which it becomes apparent that economic man is not a woman -- In which we see that our pact with economic man isn't turning out as we had expected -- In which we add women and stir -- In which Las Vegas and Wall Street merge -- In which the global economy goes to hell -- In which we see that men are also not like economic man -- In which economic incentives aren't shown to be as uncomplicated as we might think -- In which we see that you aren't selfish just because you want more money -- In which we see that a negative number is still zero -- In which we all become entrepreneurs -- In which we see that the uterus isn't a space capsule -- In which we discover economic man's unforeseen depths and fears -- In which we see that the greatest story of our time only has one sex -- In which we will see that every society suffers in line with its bullshit : and we say goodbye -- Epilogue