TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - The ontology of economic power in capitalism: mainstream economics and Marx
JO  - Cambridge journal of economics
A1  - Palermo, Giulio
SP  - 539
EP  - 561
VL  - 31
IS  - 4
N2  - Mainstream economics conceives power to be incompatible with perfect competition. This conception, I argue, derives from its deductivist method and the 'empirical realist' ontology that it presupposes. Following Marx, I show that capitalism constantly reproduces asymmetrical constraints on classes of individuals, independent of the market form. My ontological argument is rooted in the philosophy of 'critical realism'. My conclusion is that the dichotomy 'power-competition' is ontologically untenable. If capitalist relations necessarily involve power, it is not simply because neoclassical competition does not exist in reality, as radical mainstream economists suggest, but rather because capitalism altogether is a 'system of power'.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 0309-166X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cje/bel036
ID  - ref1
ER  -