Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 DOI 10.2390/jsse-v16-i2-1608 Yves-Patrick Coléno, Hervé Blanchard Teaching About the « Economic Crisis » Today. The Example of French « Economic and Social Sciences » - Today the subject contents about the current crisis are inspired by standard economics. - It cannot be justified by the state of academic economic knowledge. - It is a lexicon effect that explains the predominance of standard economics keywords. - That makes it difficult to explain the current crisis, because of theoretical confusion and limits. Purpose: In France at the high school the subject matter “Sciences Économiques et Sociales” (economic and social sciences) deals with the present economic crisis. We study the ways it is taught about: words, and explanatory patterns. Design/methodology/approach: We use a specific approach, that we call “semantic holism”, conceiving subject contents as the product of a dual process of didactization and of axiologization of reference knowledge. That implies relating these contents to the social value system and, especially, to the lexicon, set of keywords through which people must think and talk at some point. The analysis starts from the examination of economic and social sciences syllabuses and teaching resources, and leads us to highlight the predominance of the references to standard economics, but this predominance cannot be justified by the state of scientific knowledge. Findings: We show on the contrary a lexicon effect: the subject key notions have been selected in accordance to the lexicon keywords. Therefore the proposed contents seem far from the objective to understanding the major issues at stake today. Research limitations/implications: Then further researches must focus on the ways of teaching about the crisis in spite of the present lexicon. Keywords: Economics, didactics, crisis, subject matter contents, cultural dynamics 1 Introduction are peculiar to the concerned subject matter”, economics Considering the present economic and social situation, to be specific. It is confirmed by examining the syllabus especially in Europe, people find obvious to refer to an of the French subject called “Sciences Économiques et economic crisis. It is the subject of a good many debates Sociales” (SES, which means “economic and social scien- concerning both ideas and policies. It also leads to study ces”) for the senior year of the secondary education: how the notion of economic crisis is taught. “economic crisis” is on the list of the notions to be Studying such a situation at the high school and taught. according to the syllabus, it would then involve the But in which words is it taught? Especially, which are recourse to “notions, tools and ways of thinking which the explanatory patterns supposed to be presented? Comparing the ways the so-called economic crisis is Hervé Blanchard is a Senior Lecturer in economics at taught today in France and Germany, Kortendiek and Van the Perpignan University (France). As a researcher in Treeck (2015) conclude that in France the origins of this the “Centre du droit économique et de la crisis are explained exclusively in a keynesian way. Bey- concurrence” (CDEC) - Centre of economic law and ond such a conclusion, we want to explain the orienta- competition -, he works among others on the tion of the teaching and especially the selection of SES evolution of the teaching of economics at the high contents. school and the university. Université de Perpignan, Let us bring forward an analysis of the choices of avenue Paul Alduy, 66100 Perpignan (France) contents by connecting them with the dynamics both so- E-mail: [email protected] cioeconomic and cultural of our society, which leads us Yves-Patrick Coléno, Ph.D (economics) is a former to refer these contents to a specific lexicon. high school teacher in « Sciences Économiques et So we can explain both the preservation of the hege- Sociales » (Economic and Social Sciences) in mony of standard economics and the place of notions Perpignan (France), and was also an economic which have become keywords of the present lexicon, teacher at the IUFM - University Institute for Teacher reason why the contents in SES classes have been chosen Training - in Montpellier (France). From 1999 to 2004 for the crisis study. he was a member of the committee in charge of national syllabuses of “Sciences Économiques et Sociales”. He is an associate member of CDEC, Perpignan. 3 rue de Paris, 66000 Perpignan E-mail: [email protected] 52 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 A specific approach, the semantic holism* Subject matter contents can be conceived as the product of a dual process of didactization and of axiologization of reference knowledge, in particular scientific (Dévelay, 1995). Speaking of axiologization of contents means that the latter are linked with the value system at work in the studied society. In our case, SES show what the French society wants young people to learn about itself. It is this axiological side of the choice of contents that we must analyse. In order to do this, let us analyse the contents as a “mark of the sense” (Solans, 2005), by referring them to a determined lexicon, the one of the capitalism, at a certain point of its trajectory. Semantic holism and lexicon Our theoretical approach, that we call « semantic holism », is indeed part of a current of thought – let us quote Pierce, Wittgenstein, Descombes – which makes a body of signs the spirit that drives human beings. Without it, these beings would not know how to act and, consequently, could not be conceived as “agents”, unlike the standard economic approach. This body of signs that gives meaning is a system, or a network, of words, this is the reason why we call our approach a semantic holism : this approach is holistic since we attribute the origin of human behaviours to this whole body, and it is a semantic holism since it confers to a body of words, that is to say a body of meanings, the determining place in the analysis. This body of words is called “lexicon”. Centered on a value, proper to each social form, it consists of “registers”, which say what to do and how to do it right. This is the definition of morals and, referring to a value system, the definition of culture. Where does this lexicon come from ? It comes from the living conditions of the concerned human beings : living in a hierarchical social form, that is to say an ordered set of social places, occupied in the field of production and in the field of reproduction (of the human species), they give value to the actions performed by those who occupy the dominant place (Solans, 2005). The lexicon of comfort gives meaning to life in a capitalist society Every social form gives thus birth to a body of words, a lexicon, centered on a value. As for capitalism, this central value is comfort, as several works (Baudrillard, 1970, Goubert, 1988, Le Goff, 1994) have shown it. That means that we give value to production and use of matter, and consequently the accumulation of “goods”, the latter word being an enlightening example of the idea of lexicon : what is “good” materializes, in our minds, through “goods”. Centered around the value “comfort”, how are built the lexicon and its registers ? Capitalism, as a hierarchical social form, involves a social “segregation”, meaning that a class captures the major part of the value, by accumulating the major part of goods, and seeks to exclude the dominated class from the access to value and gestures which distinguish it. This value turns out to be at the same time what unites the human beings and what divides them, at the risk of making it impossible to live together : how can those who are excluded from what is worth living agree to what makes them despicable in their own eyes ? Moreover producing goods implies work, that we conceive as all the activities of production that the members of the dominant class refuse to carry out. Those who must carry out the work are constrained to a devaluing activity, and above all to surrender a share of the work product to the dominant class : it is the definition of exploitation. Therefore, only the lexicon words can make segregation and exploitation bearable, by speaking about the actions, especially working, in such a way that all these actions become admirable instead of being despicable. And the lexicon of comfort, which gives meaning to life in a capitalist society, then consists of two registers, liberty and equality. Liberty and equality are the lexicon of comfort’s keywords Why these words, liberty and equality ? In capitalism, the value comfort orders to produce, then to consume, goods. Let us specify that in this social form, which is hierarchical, the dominant place values comfort insofar as this place is occupied by those we call capitalists, regardless of the transformations in their activities throughout the trajectory of capitalism. They are those who are at the same time empowered to mobilize the labour force of other people, in the field of production, and empowered to participate in reproduction. This combination leads these beings to value the material dimension of life, the comfort, but at the same time it is a problem. Producing is indeed an activity led by the will to master the world, to be specific the matter, and driven by this will every being seeks to get out of any constraint, aiming above all at independence, in other words liberty. But the interest in reproduction leads to consider essential the collective life (living together) : the problem then is to be independent while wishing the presence of other people. And the solution consists in combining liberty – I act without constraint – and equality – I respect others by submitting myself to their judgment. Production is the field where is measured the effect of this double command : the one who is empowered to mobilize the labour force starts by deciding to produce according to his wishes, proving at the same time his know-how and his independence. But he then submits himself to others’ judgment : by consuming his products the collectivity validates his activity (it is possible to talk of postvalidation, by the “market”). And the registers based on these keywords, liberty and equality, inform those who have to work about the right way to behave in the production area. Their freedom makes them able to “undertake”, in such a case to choose which “know-how” they must learn before taking part in working life. They then submit themselves to the judgment of others, their equals, who validate (or not) their know-how by hiring them and participating to production by consuming the product. The registers put thus people to work, making possible what seemed a priori impossible. By entering into contracts those who work feel admirable as well. Segregation is replaced in the minds by a simple grading depending on the degree of access to what is valued. As to exploitation, which is essentially a social domination relationship, it disappears under the guise of an exchange relationship. Lexicon registers are finally the embodiment of collective experience : it is through them every being “builds his experience since it is irreducibly individual (that is me speaking) and collective (I speak with the words of the tribe, so I am spoken by them as well).” (Lecercle, 2001, p.506, about Raymond Williams’ work). Dynamics of capitalism and changes in lexicon Our approach then leads to find how this lexicon and its registers affect the ways of knowing, and how all that is evolving throughout the trajectory of capitalism. The latter, indeed, is put in motion by class conflicts around the value at stake, especially conflicts about labour product distribution, and therefore evolves, and the lexicon as well, what changes in return human beings behaviours. For several centuries has emerged a form of “good knowledge”, called “science”, and to SES teaching, in particular, is assigned as reference the “scholar knowledge” originating from “social sciences”. However, without denying to them any autonomy from lexicon, we assume that they are not independent from it for all that, and the purpose of History of Economic Thought, in particular, is to analyse this complex relationship. By analyzing SES syllabuses and their evolution we intend to help in it : why does, today for instance, some theoretical model establish itself as “economics”, standard model of the “economist”, even if other theoretical approaches have not been struck down in any way ? We assert, as for lexicon, that the importance of every register varies according to the times, throughout the trajectory of capitalism. Even if being the reference at a point of history, this set of words is subject to competition from other discourses about the world, as soon as it cannot keep any longer its promises by justifying the place every human being holds and the behaviours he adopts. 53 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 The relevance of lexicon effects for didactictal analysis Analysing subject contents implies finally to connect them to the standard way of thinking and the corresponding lexicon, at a moment given by the dynamics of capitalism, even if it means taking competing words into account. Indeed the dynamics of capitalism, especially under the effect of antagonisms related to the collective labour product sharing out, changes the lexicon and thus the common mentality, by rearranging the registers particularly. We also set out to enrich the study of didactical transposition from this scholar knowledge, by looking for “lexicon effects” on the knowledge to teach, by examining syllabuses and teaching materials. We call “lexicon effect” a process by which the lexicon integrates a word or an expression. Within the combined dynamics of capitalist relationships and value systems, this word, initially a concept, is taken away and then separated from its theoretical matrix – abandoning any reference, shifting in meaning – so far as it becomes the only way of speaking. This process relegates all the other ways of speaking to the unspeakable and thus the inaudible. Referring to lexicon effect then leads to discuss about didactical transposition. As Beitone and al. (1995, pp. 43-44) wrote : “Didactical activity presumes, to some extent, a reification of concepts.” Yet it makes possible a “faint of meaning” (Joshua and Dupin, 1993, p. 253), which will act as a barrier to learning. Concepts only get meaning within what we call a “theoretical matrix”, that is to say a model which generates, specifically, a determined significance. Yet didactisation may lead to empoverish a concept, depending on how it is defined. Defining “capital”, for instance, by keeping only what seems to be shared by the various conceptions - “capital” means “resources” -, leads to lose meaning : how can therefore students distinguish the meaning defined by the marxist approach, especially, from the one defined by the neo-classical model, established as a standard? In addition, our approach can enlighten the study of the link between scholar knowledge, school knowledge and social knowledge (Legardez, 2004), by integrating the inputs of works on social representations, which originate especially in lexicon. * A short glossary is available, if necessary, at the end of this text. 2 The period marks subject contents “Observing economic fluctuations will allow to underline the Analyses of socioeconomic dynamics (Canry, 2005, growth variability and the existence of periods of crisis. Main Solans, 2008) show us that the interplay of the behaviour ideas of the principal explanatory patterns regarding of wage-earners and capital owners led capitalism from fluctuations will be presented (supply and demand shocks, credit cycle), paying particular attention to the relations with one stage to another, on its trajectory, and thus made aggregate demand. the lexicon change. Whereas previously the position of strength of wage-earners had made first the register of Then how do textbooks and online courses set out the equality, we went to a stage where the where the regi- crisis? ster of freedom took this place. For about thirty years Our analysis has concerned the contents proposed by mentality has been changing then, and lexicon as well. six textbooks, a reference document published by the The renewal of the lexicon appears in some keywords, Ministry of National Education and another one provided the first of which is “market”. Human beings imagine by a business association, and nine online courses provi- themselves as a society of individuals connected by mar- ded by teachers. Analyzing textbooks according to our kets – contracts –, and it marks subject contents, by approach implies to examine: lexicon effects. To start with, let us look at the SES syllabus, and also at 1) the glossary that presents, at the end of each book, the textbooks and online courses, about the present crisis. notions which must be taught ; At first, let us recall the contents of the syllabus. We 2) the definitions given in the body of the chapters under must specify that in France it is the State's prerogative to review, if need be, for they may differ; define the subject contents: syllabuses are official texts. 3) the theoretical references in the body of the chapters The SES syllabus, today, consists of a list of topics and/or under review, distinguishing between those to be only issues, and of a list of notions to teach in order to treat found in internal developments and those which are summarized. them. Additional instructions – “Indications Complémen- taires”, in French – circumscribe the study, in order to We do the same thing as for online courses review, avoid developments considered as unnecessary at this with the exception of point 1, in so far as these courses level of teaching, and guide the teaching as well. From its do not usually offer final glossary. publication the syllabus is compulsory for the edu- In order to complete this information, we shall use the cational institution: teachers, first of all, but also orga- results of two investigations we have led in 2016 about nizations which produce teaching materials, such as SES teaching. The first one consisted of a questionnaire publishing houses, private entities which share the sent to SES teachers mailing lists. The questionnaire con- textbook market. tained 24 questions – 16 closed questions among which 7 These additional instructions seem to have acquired, were multiple choice, 3 numeric and 4 open-response - on the occasion of the development of present sylla- and each interviewee entered his responses on line. We buses, a significant prescribing power. In the first subpart got 152 responses. The second investigation, more quali- of the part entitled “economics”, opening the syllabus tative, was conducted to gather the teachers’ opinions under the title “growth, fluctuations and crises”, we find and to verify the assumptions we had made. It took the as second issue: “How to explain the growth instability?”. form of semi-structured interviews, which lasted from Five notions have to be taught: “economic fluctuations”, one to two hours, with 9 SES teachers. “economic crisis”, “disinflation”, “depression”, “defla- Now let us show that their way of presenting the crisis tion”. In these additional instructions, let us note: is characterized by the use of the notions and 54 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 explanatory patterns provided by standard economics on the understanding that shocks may cover all kinds of (Ponsot & Rocca, 2013). “variations” and credit cycle can easily be identified by Among seventeen teaching materials, ten present the observing monetary and financial events previously to pattern of standard economics, unrestricted, four intro- the present crisis and its aftermath as well. duce a slight difference, two a bit more, and one leaves But features identified in some presentations, even the door open to a pluralistic presentation. though a minority, allow to start a questioning. 2.1 The great majority of examined materials is inspired 2.2 Some materials deviate from this presentation by the standard economics Four of these presentations have an incidental but Let us start by examining the definition of the notion of interesting difference. crisis. For half of the materials reviewed it is a turning So one of the textbooks mentions, by concluding the point in the economic cycle, for the other ones a turning definition of shocks, that “some analyses refute this point of “economic activity”, but in any case, the crisis notion of exogenous shock, and attribute fluctuations to being followed either by a recession or depression accor- the structures of the market economy, they dispute the ding to the strict meaning of the notion or by a recovery autobalancing nature of which.” Yet the chapter summa- in a broader meaning, that is the idea of integrating the ry does not retain this objection: why does it not retain crisis within a cycle. As the reality of cycles is apparently this refutation among the contents students must learn, unquestioned, it goes back to the explanation of cycles and even less explain it? themselves. And in this sense three of the materials are Similarly, the resource sheet published by the Ministry already helping: concludes the part devoted to the explanations of fluctuations by indicating that Jacques Rueff's argument, “one by specifying that crisis means “more generally: a claiming that thanks to deflation economy could get back disruption of the equilibrium between supply and demand to health, was “actively contested” by Keynes, “who for goods and services, depressing economic activity; stresses that only the discretionary intervention by the state can cause a recovery of economic activity.”. But this the two others differentiating short-term and long- remark appears as reduced to the role of transition to- term, either to define the crisis as a “disturbance” affect- wards the next part, devoted to the role of public autho- ting long-term growth, or to distinguish between “cyclical rities against economic fluctuations and, restricted to this crisis”, as a “turning point in the cycle”, and “long, remark, Keynes' “contention” is not considered as an structural crisis”, “which shows the necessity of alternative explanation. Why? transformations of production organization”. Finally, another resource sheet includes a document Then, in accordance with the additional instructions, which asserts, about the role of credit: the notion of shock is added to the notions which must be known. It is sometimes clarified as an “exogenous “Boom phases are inevitably accompanied by a rise in debt. shock”, but the definitions leave no room for doubt The American economist Hyman Minsky sees here the about this nature, which is therefore implicit. These expression of a “paradox of tranquillity”. It is indeed from definitions are most often quite vague about the nature the boom period that financial instability originates (…) of the so-called shocks, mentioning “events”, “vari- Financial instability stems from capitalist economies themselves.” ations”, “changes”, “impulsions”, even “factors”; only two of them specify their “unexpected” or “unforeseen” Therefore, if teaching profits from this opportunity, nature. But the main thing appears in the definition there is room for a questioning, about the “inevitable” mentioned above about “exogenous” shocks: “impulsion nature of the rise in debt, even the inherent character of from outside the economic sphere which have significant this “financial instability” in “capitalist economies” : how effects on economy and outside of government control.” can it be explained, especially by Minsky, and is that Always in accordance with the additional instructions, corroborated by historical observations? However the most of the materials reviewed present the notion of whole sheet, and especially the document from which “credit cycle”. Most often this notion is “simply” defined: this quotation comes, show no resource for such a ques- access to credit is easier during the phase of expansion, tioning. and conversely in a recession, amplifying fluctuations. Even so, let us retain the definition given by the Ministry's document: Some materials offer other references The examination of two others materials enables to “It helps to explain the endogenous nature of growth broaden this set of questions. In fact, one of the online courses contains, at the end of the part explaining instability. During a period of economic expansion, espe- cially in a healthy economic situation (low rate of interest, fluctuations, a document entitled “Inequalities low inflation), the “paradox of tranquillity” (H.Minsky) acts. responsible for the crisis”, where the author states the following point: Then the examination of all these materials reveals the predominance of an explanatory pattern of the present “The growing household debt and their low savings rate, crisis which combines exogenous shocks and credit cycle, especially in the United States, is, actually, the counterpart 55 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 to growing inequalities which happened at the expense of The examined resources fall into two categories: most of them. - One, predominant, offers a syncretic presentation The students, asked to try to find how the author implicitly focused on the standard pattern, in terms of justifies the responsibility of inequalities for the crisis, exogenous shocks, around which complementary explana- will refer to this phrase. How to go further on, since this tions are added – monetary and financial phenomena, dynamics of investment and interplay of innovations – document was given “to deepen” but is put at the end of which have been separated from their theoretical matrix. As the part which explains fluctuations by shocks? What a result, these phenomena or processes are reduced to new theoretical tools would allow students to deepen more or less lasting disruptions of the market system their knowledge, by notably introducing a new factor for equilibrium. this debt so far presented as an “excess”, “inevitable” in - The other gathers presentations that diverge more or less boom period? from the former, from an isolated interference which The question arises again, reviewing a textbook that disappears in the summary up to the offer of a plurality of distinguishes itself by a comparative pluralism of its theo- explanations and theoretical references. retical references and explanatory patterns. At first, theoretical references expand to classical By its syncretism, the first category takes together what economists, briefly alluding to Marx in a document, and is originally a set of explanations which should be discri- regulationists as well, together with Keynes, Minsky, minated, in order to be confronted to each other. Only if Fisher and Schumpeter most often found. separated from their theoretical matrix, explanations Explanatory patterns are different too. In relation to which suggest endogenous origins, diverging in this way the above theoretical references, we especially find the from the neoclassical approach of a self-regulating interplay of income distribution between social classes - market economy, seem to be consistent with the expla- regarding the nineteenth century crises - and contem- natory pattern of standard economics. But the latter can porary changes in production from the regulationist be subject to questions: point of view. And it is only after presenting the idea of credit cycle, on one hand, and the interplay of - How is the “economic sphere” defined, so that according to this pattern nothing endogenous may cause its crisis? innovations according to Schumpeter, on the other hand, - How is the relationship between the “financial sphere” - or that appears the explanation in terms of shocks. But this “monetary and financial activities” - and the so-called is worth noting that the summary of the chapter “economic sphere” conceived? considerably reduces the range of explanations, by neglecting the interplay of income distribution and But the second category gathers resources the pre- changes in production. However, there is still an sentation of which diverges from the syncretism of the opposition between explanations in terms of endo- prevailing presentation. Without neglecting the didactic genous shocks - “abuse of credit”, interplay of inno- questions already put forward, we are led to analyse this vations according to Schumpeter, variations of state of subject contents as regards the present crisis: investment and demand according to Keynes – and those why such diversity, dominated by a presentation inspired in terms of exogenous shocks, presented as “current by standard economics, all the more strongly that it is liberal interpretations”. embodied by syllabus notions and additional instruct- If we add that among the different explanations tions? This questioning is reinforced by the examination submitted only those in terms of exogenous shocks are of an old textbook. The latter dealing with an old syllabus the subject of a “guided work” in this textbook, we are and, above all, studying another crisis, the comparison brought to a last question: in the selection made among offers an interest and limitations as well. Its interest lies contents for guided works and summary, would it be the in the common description as a crisis, which in particular sake of return to syllabus additional instructions, in allows to wonder why the explanatory patterns pre- prospect of final assessment ? sented then are no longer available. But we also need to As to the results of the examination of teaching resour- mention the limitations of this comparison, therefore ces we shall conclude by presenting the highlights of a that the current crisis differs from that of the 1970s in its last online course. The latter shares the plurality of its financial triggering. Then it allows some authors to explanations and theoretical references with the disqualify the explanations of the old textbook (1981): textbook just mentioned above, and in the summary an “the object” has changed. But in return we can question apparent opposition can be found between explanations the current contents. How does the standard pattern in exogenous terms and others in endogenous terms, the reflect the object “current crisis”, in its dynamics, last ones including the work of inequalities, besides the including the financial aspects, better than patterns such interplay of financial markets and innovations. as those which have been excluded, while some of them, Let us sum up the results just presented, before if not all of them, have included these aspects as well? gathering the issues. Now the search is on what underlies the selection of contents. 56 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 3 SES teach about the crisis according present day supply curve or in the demand curve, even both of them. Anyway not any example can be found concerning a lexicon “supply side shock” not being a “demand side shock”, and Selecting the “main explanatory patterns”, strongly su- vice versa... except within a partial equilibrium model, ggested by additional instructions, leads mainly, as we but it is never clarified. have just showed it, to focus the presentation of the Only one model, which is the standard one, makes crisis on the explanation of the standard economics, sense for this definition. The central problem of this mo- based on neoclassical economics, adding to it occasion- del is equilibrium, therefore any event which shifts the nally some elements borrowed from other approaches equilibrium is called a “shock”, and this event is by defi- after separating them from their theoretical matrix. nition external, more exactly external to the repre- It reveals what we call lexicon effects. sentation of an economy as a market system. Within this Then let us look at the theoretical knowledge in econo- model, all that cannot be explained by the functioning of mics, firstly, in order to clarify the theoretical references markets, even imperfect, is an exogenous source of of the SES contents. We shall be able afterwards to “disturbance” in economic equilibrium, that explains the connect these contents to the lexicon at work today. presentation of the crisis, found in some resources, as an “equilibrium disruption”. Consequently, explaining the 3.1 Which theories do these contents refer to? crisis in terms of shocks only makes sense, as regards First of all these presentations question about what economic theories, in the limits of this simplistic standard economics exactly refers to, when speaking of approach of economy. “economy”: Which place for financial and monetary activities? - How are the elements characterized as “shocks” “outside This approach determines the place of financial and economy”? monetary activities in economic dynamics as well. - In particular, are monetary and financial activities “outside economy”, called “real economy”, so that their dynamics is The trigger of the current crisis, that first reached the autonomous? financial markets and the banking activities, implied to take these activities into account to analyse the crisis. Secondly we must explain why “inequalities”, that However, the diversity of the examined presentations – some textbooks or courses mention in their presen- even their confusion – highlights the difficulty in follow- tation, do not fit into the selected explanatory patterns. ing such a way in the limits of the standard model. The standard economics, indeed, founds a macroeco- nomic approach which integrates finance only by redu- 3.1.1 A simplistic definition cing it to a loan supply function, meant to react automa- If academic language is allowed to deviate from the tically to changing interest rates. The analysis of “finan- common meaning when using concepts, nevertheless we cial markets” is based on the same assumptions as re- can work on the assumption that a “shock” is a brutal, gards the behaviour of individual agents, the only unforeseeable event, coming from outside, as some conceivable entities in this theoretical framework. On textbooks or other reviewed resources clarify it. And no this base, these markets were considered as “efficient” one will dispute that an earthquake is a good example, by mainstream macroeconomics, until the “shock” likely to affect the economy of a country or a group of occurred – for this time the word is not misused – in countries, if “economy” means this field of social ac- 2007-2008: what was unthinkable had just broken out. tivities related to material supply. Since furthermore standard economics considers the But many other examples identified in our review cause money as exogenous and shares a dichotomised vision some sort of surprise. separating “real economy” – field of trade in goods and As regards « supply-side shocks », mentioning for exam- services – and “monetary and financial sphere”, the ex- ple the taylorist organisation of work leads to wonder planations deriving from it only include this “sphere” by how its introduction, that has spanned some decades, opposing it and the rest of the economy : observable has got the features of a “shock”: nothing brutal, nor behaviours in this field can lead to “excesses”, and these unforeseeable, a fortiori as it has been expanding; and are responsible – in an endogenous way, therefore – for how does it seem “outside economy”? The rise in oil “growth instability”, responsible for crises in other price in 1973? Certainly it appeared as brutal, because of words. its magnitude, to observers of the surrounding world, but That amounts to accept to include monetary and finan- was it for all that unforeseeable, and how is the rise in a cial activities in the “economy” only by reinforcing the price “outside the economy”? idea of dichotomy. Indeed we need to make the distinc- Now, as regards “demand-side shocks”, what about an tion between these activities and the “real” economy for increase in wages, or opening a national economy to another reason: agents there are capable of excesses, international trade? What about government's stimulus which mean not to be rational enough. for demand? Finally what about the variation of credit But why, whereas standard economics was claiming for volume? the financial market efficiency, the whole monetary and The common meaning of “shock” is therefore useless financial « sphere » has become, since the beginning of here. Actually, as most reviewed resources assert, a the crisis, a field which escapes the rationality this shock is an event which leads to a shift in the aggregate 57 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 approach attributes to any economic agent? And why changed not only the terms of corporate investment, but have the financial crises been so recurring since the also the terms of the management (Aglietta, 1997), 1980s, unlike the previous half-century? especially regarding profit reallocation and workforce Now it is interesting to note that the presentations of employment. Then it leads to consider otherwise the role the crisis founded on standard economics integrate now of “inequalities” in this dynamics. the idea of a “credit cycle” which, in most cases, leads to refer to Minsky's work. 3.1.2 The role of wealth distribution in the dynamics of But it generally refers only to the “paradox of the crisis tranquillity”, so that the consistency in the standard Let us recall that the inequalities issue has come back explanatory model seems to be preserved. with the current crisis into the agenda of an increasing But Minsky's work only makes sense on theoretical part of economists, and that we notice it in three of the bases which break from this model: it is not behaviour teaching examined resources. Yet, in the main expla- “excesses”, specific to financial area, that he attributes natory patterns in SES, referring to standard economics, the so-called paradox to, but the place of finance in the there is no question of it. Is it then relevant to wonder “capitalist economy”, as he does not hesitate calling it. about the role that inequalities, or more exactly income By rejecting, as other economists like Marx, Schumpeter distribution, may have been playing in the arising of the and Keynes, the centrality of the concept of equilibrium, current crisis, as some presentations attempt to do it? and the corresponding problem, Minsky cannot conceive Firstly let us recall that neo-classical theory ignores any a crisis as the disruption of the equilibrium which the problem of that kind: in a situation of market equi- pursuit of self interest must lead to. On the opposite he librium, the marginal product determines the remu- characterizes the capitalist economy by the financial logic neration of each factor of production. In other words, if of major groups who attempt to achieve the highest an individual receives an income different from another, possible rates of financial return by access to credit. it is due to the difference between their marginal pro- Instead of conceiving economic relationships as rela- duct. At the most, recognizing the « market failures », tionships between individuals homogeneous in their be- some mainstream economists correct their view by redis- haviours, or as functional relationships between cate- tributing wealth. It is a variant of this analysis which thus gories of agents from a macroeconomic point of view, he has been concluding that income inequalities observed in distinguishes a category of economic players for their recent years were due to the work of technical progress. capacity to develop their search for profit from financial But, especially when debating with Robert Reich, Paul activities. Krugman (2007) himself recognizes that after having held this position for a long time he has changed his mind: Breaking out of standard economics according to him, changes in distribution of wealth are It is therefore possible to explain the current crisis in due to the political and ideological action. It implies that other words than those of standard economics, be- even a mainstream economist like Krugman can diverge ginning by rethinking the place of monetary and financial from standard economics, when analysing the dynamics activities among all theses activities called economic, of distribution and, in so doing, he can wonder about the which forms the field of material supply for human articulation between this dynamics and the one of societies. It is clearly possible to analyse how this place “growth”, which has led to the present crisis. If political changed in the history of capitalism. It especially allows and ideological processes can change distribution pro- to show, following thus various economists (Minsky, cesses, can we simply regard that as “market failures”, or Aglietta, Orléan...), that the current crisis has been is economy to be considered as something else than a produced by a “financialization” of capitalism, which mere field of market exchanges? Since on another hand began as early as the 1960s in the United States, that the mainstream approach has not been able to provide means a long term process. It is referred to finance as works sound enough to corroborate it, we must search soon as it deals with providing liquidity for investment, theoretical tools outside standard economics in order to the issue being who does it, why and how. However it is analyse the role of wealth distribution in long-period evolving: let us shortly mention the evolution of the dynamics of capitalism. respective place of bank credit and market financing. Then other explanations can be conceived which What do teaching resources say about this role? diverge from mainstream patterns, by showing that the Let us deal now with the documents identified in three of origins of the present crisis are endogenous: this crisis the reviewed teaching resources: do these resources originated in an economy dominated by the activity of provide the students with such theoretical tools? financial markets, and the financialization itself origin- In a first online course, the graphical presentation of nated at the heart of a long-period economic dynamics, the variation of the income share allocated to the “1 %”, from innovations which have transformed economy. in the United States, from 1910 to 2010, shows that both On this basis the linking between the financial crisis and “peaks” take place in 1928 (23,9%) and in 2007 (23,5%). the one of the so-called “real economy” can be Students are asked to “make a causal assumption”. reconsidered: instead of a dichotomised presentation of It is a difficult work, without being supported by theo- the relationship between two autonomous “spheres”, it retical knowledge, but it is a priori interesting: getting is a question of showing how the financialization has 58 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 the students to think about this observation necessarily “factors of production” and, like any other price, fixed on enrich their understanding of the current crisis. ad hoc “markets”, these analyses renew the conceptions Another textbook (Fraisse-D'Olimpio, 2012) presents that classical economists (Smith first) and Marx started to the classical thesis regarding a role of wealth distribution, establish, and all of them recognize social classes as by mentioning Malthus' and Sismondi's works: “The pow- protagonists of the relationships established in economic er of consuming does not necessarily increase with the activities. power of producing”, according to the latter. And It is therefore possible, today just as much as two cen- Bernard Rosier, the author of the extract provided by this turies ago, to think that the long-period dynamics de- document, concludes: “And it comes from the mode of pends on the distribution of wealth among social classes, wealth distribution between social classes which tends to and to identify distribution as an issue at stake in a social “under-consumption”, (...)”. Students are asked to show conflict. “theoretical implications with Marx and Keynes” from Such analyses, which can be enriched by taking into this sentence, but it implies that the teacher provides account the financialization of the economy for thirty them with the means to do it, with the explanations years, clearly break with standard patterns, either by the given by these authors about the crises. And yet we can approach of economic field, necessarily broader than this find it neither in the textbook, nor in the syllabus. of neoclassical economists, or by the approach of the Finally the online course which offers to work on a relationships established in this field: they are no longer document extracted from Gaffard (2008), “Inequalities reduced to market relationships between individuals, responsible for crisis”, asks the students: reputed to be free and equal and, of course, only govern- ed by reason. “Why does the author consider that inequalities only are That is precisely why they are neglected not only in the responsible for the 2008 crisis? current syllabuses but also in most of the teaching SES resources, and why the resources which let small place to If it is rather easy to identify in the text elements to observations out of the framework of standard models answer this question, questioning the linking between are disadvantaged by the absence of theoretical pro- growing inequalities and households debt in a context of spects: it is the effect of the lexicon. financialization of economy, the changes of the so-called inequalities remain unexplained. Their consequence 3.2 Teaching about the crisis: lexicon effects and concerns “most of households”, without any more detail, discussion limits but students who have understood what an “exogenous “Shocks”, “disruption of equilibrium” and, as far as shock” is could ultimately conclude that this evolution is finance is concerned, “excesses”. Why is the use of these one of them, thus neglecting the question of its origin. words compelling to such an extent that, for instance, processes which cannot be considered as “shocks”, or Referring to other explanatory patterns about inequa- explanations which have got nothing to do with it, are lities presented as such? Nevertheless, if we want to integrate the evolution of It is a question of lexicon effects. Let us show now how “inequalities” into the long-period economic dynamics, the present-day lexicon marks the different ways of we must refer to other explanatory patterns, and the two dealing with the crisis in SES, even if some competing examples just quoted put us on the right track, in spite of views emerge, within their compatibility with the sense their limits. We have indeed some models which explain of capitalism today. in an endogenous way the dynamics of capitalism by integrating the play of distribution. In a classical From “market” to “shocks”, the strength of the lexicon (Goodwin), keynesian (Robinson, Kaldor), regulationist The superiority of the market as a regulator – through (Canry) or marxist (Duménil, Lévy) inspiration, they all the notion of coordination - is then understandable in diverge from the standard model and, firstly, are based subject content by the strength of this word in the on the idea of distinct behaviours of the “economic current lexicon: it is indeed the keyword of the register agents”, according to their position in the economic field. of freedom, from now on in front of the one of equality. The models inspired by Keynesian economics distinguish The reality of “market” as means of social regulation is consumption and savings behaviours depending on the never questioned, it is obvious. In this way, during an type of income, wages or profit, and go back to the interview a teacher disputed the near disappearance of analyses of economists who criticised from the 19th the notion of regulation in SES contents, in favour of century Say's law, in order to explain that the dynamics “coordination” ; but the interview showed that she used of capitalism could, or even should, generate specific “regulation” in the Anglo-Saxon meaning, in any case in crises. And if models inspired by Keynesian economists the meaning of a State intervention. The idea that mar- keep themselves to showing the effects of the ket would be another regulation mode was apparently behaviours differences on growth, putting the unthinkable. distribution between wages and profits at the heart of It makes the standard explanation obvious as well. this dynamics leads other analyses to wonder about the According to the present-day lexicon, rational individuals very wealth distribution. And instead of conceiving wage free to enter into contracts find a process that succeeds and profit as prices of “productive services” provided by in coordinating their choices in a satisfactory way 59 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 through them, and only an external event – a “shock” – Thus empirical materials are gathered for presentations can disrupt this “equilibrium”. of the current crisis likely to compete with the standard Specifying shocks as “demand-side shocks” and “supply- explanation. But the lexicon remains strong enough to side shocks”, which seems essential, reinforces the lexi- keep attempts to do so in the confusion. con effect, by imposing the reference to the market: As shown above, integrating the growing wealth in- shocks must be conceived in relation to one of the two equalities implies to conceive economic relationships “sides” of the market. Thus their result can only be un- other than in interindividual terms, or else the origin of derstood in relation to the “equilibrium” between these such a trend cannot be understood. Yet the present-day two “sides”. lexicon imposes to imagine our society as a linking of One of the interviews we conducted confirms it: interindividual relationships. according to this teacher, explaining by “shocks” is a progress of economics. Strength of the lexicon and social confusion And if we must enrich the explanation by integrating A good example emerges from an investigation we have the financial aspect of the crisis, the lexicon tells us how led. To the following question: to do it: in a world within which individuals are rational, “Do you consider that economics deals with re- the crisis can only proceed from « excesses » due to irra- lationships between agents/actors/individuals/classes/ tional behaviours. others?”, 12,5% of teachers answered “individuals” and If we have indeed observed the pre-eminence of such “classes” simultaneously, whereas from a theoretical an explanation in our review, the discrepancies noted in point of view both answers are mutually exclusive. If we some teaching resources are yet to be accounted for. add the predominance of the answers in terms of “agents” (58%), it appears that a majority of respondents Some empirical materials: likely to fuel alternative do not go beyond a vague approach of the protagonists presentations? of economic relationships, and anyway answers which Let us recall our observations on a limited part of the prevent from wondering about the logic of these examined resources: protagonists' behaviours. If they are individuals, they have a reputation for being homogeneous by virtue of - the explanation by “shocks” - exogenous - is questioned, their calculating rationality, if they are agents they fulfil a in one way or another, and it especially concerns the work function within a framework conceived in macroeco- of demand variations, on one hand, and the one of nomic terms. Within such a framework, how to explain monetary and financial activities, on the other hand ; for instance the behaviour of “banks”, that the great - the place of inequalities in the dynamics of the crisis raises majority of explanations considers as “excessive”? a few questions. Thus it seems difficult to think that economic dynamics could depend on conflicting relationships between social Why do textbooks or online courses not resort to the groups with distinct interests, and even more difficult to explanatory patterns which could bring answers to these speak of conflicts between social classes. In addition to questions? Why are alternative references limited to the the previous remark about the confusion of answers Keynesian elements from the neoclassical synthesis, that which accept “individuals” and “classes” simultaneously, is to say standard economics? let us add that answers containing “classes” sometimes In our view, the answer to this double question is to be suggest a vague meaning of the word: out of the forty found in the strength of current lexicon, and the state of involved answers (26% of the number), 16, that is to say competition between the different ways of describing 40%, must be related to a selection of key-concepts the world, at this point on the trajectory of capitalism in where at least one key-concept of the standard pattern France. appears. Therefore answering “classes” does not nece- Indeed today SES teachers as well as many economists ssary imply to conceive economic relationships as social must have acknowledged, in one way or another, the classes relationships. growing wealth “inequalities”. Thus the coincidence of In that case, how can we explain the growing ine- this process and the current crisis led some teaching qualities and the role of such a process in economic dy- resources to link observations of growing inequalities to namics ? If there are distribution conflicts, between who the recent dynamics of economic growth. Let us put fo- and who, and why ? rward that experiences people live through in the Here we find what we call an effect of social confusion present times, the role of which we have already (Coléno, 2005). By social confusion we mean it becomes stressed, have been changing enough with such growing impossible for people, in a capitalist society, to perceive inequalities as to fuel a perception of injustice (Solans, the hierarchical division into antagonistic social classes. 2008). The so-called “trickle-down effect” becomes in- Individuals are described as players, but for all that these creasingly difficult to defend, theoretically and empi- players cannot act according to that which they do not rically, and the public discourses are evolving. At the see (Solans, 2008). In particular, there are no classes, but same time, for instance, some teachers we interviewed neither capital as a social relationship of exploitation. recognize an admission of the conflicting nature of Therefore, in a textbook which however deals with the wealth distribution. « mode of distribution between social classes » referring 60 Journal of Social Science Education Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2017 ISSN 1618–5293 to classical approaches, as mentioned above, it cannot be the collective memory, as it appears in the comments referred to the marxist analysis of the current crisis. and answers obtained from our survey, for it can help to The present-day lexicon makes it also difficult to renew theoretical patterns formerly audible, the grounds conceive the wage-earners subordination which charac- of which remain relevant, thanks to the ongoing impact terizes this social relationship. Neither words of equality of the current crisis. register, still at work even if secondary, nor a fortiori Thus can this one favour the emergence of alternative those of liberty register allow such a way of thinking. It discourses, referring to “heterodox” models? A certain becomes difficult in SES to refer to the “salary relation- risk cannot be neglected, the risk of the appearance, on ship” as regulationist economists conceive it. And so the the other hand, of a common way of thinking compatible claim for standard explanatory pattern to apply to any with a discourse of populist revenge, underpinned in crisis seem obvious, so much that the crisis which began contrast by the stigmatization of finance as main source in the 1970s, which led to include the study of economic of the crisis, for want of explaining that today finance has crises in the syllabuses of the following two decades, is got the place the very dynamics of capitalism has given no longer presented as “Fordism crisis”, in regulationist to it. History is open, the current crisis remains this point terms. about which Antonio Gramsci said: If the trajectory of capitalism has led in France a part of SES teachers – and textbooks editorial teams – to “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dead attempt to report on the place of growing wealth ine- and the new cannot be born : during this interregnum the qualities and the one of financial behaviours within the most diverse morbid phenomena can be observed. presentation of the current crisis, these discrepancies vis- à-vis the standard presentation remain limited. If re- Glossary ferences appear to Keynes and Schumpeter – even Axiological: Minsky and Aglietta –, it is in compatible terms with Everything that concerns the value system. present-day lexicon, and that precludes using some concepts, pushed into an unthinkable background, Comfort: without the slighest theoretical justification from the Comfort is the central value of capitalism. To such an field of economic theories. extent that it would not be understandable if it were otherwise. However, it has been otherwise, before 4 Conclusion capitalism, as Tocqueville noticed it in his “Democracy in We could stop there. The examination of syllabuses and America” in 1835: in the past, glory was the central value various teaching resources, most often confirmed by our in occidental societies, for instance. inquiry, leads to stress the hegemony of standard See our previous text, page 7: http://www.jsse.org/ discourse about the current crisis. And since the state of index.php/jsse/article/view/1397/1547 theoretical knowledge does not justify at all such an hegemony, our analysis leads to explain it by the Lexicon of comfort: strength of the lexicon prevailing in France today: only This central value tells every human being, in a capitalist external shocks and excesses in the financial area can society, what is worth living, and we call lexicon a specific explain the current crisis, since a “market economy” is set of words which gives utterance to it. This lexicon is self-regulated. built of registers, especially the liberty register and the In these conditions, it is doubtful that SES teaching equality register. Liberty and equality are indeed two could manage to “contribute to civic education thanks to other values consubstantial with capitalism and comfort, the mastery of knowledge that helps to take part in in such a way that we learn what to do by following the public debate about great economic, social and political words which tell us how to be free – these are the words issues », according to the syllabus preamble. The pro- which make up the liberty register - and how to respect posed contents seem far from the objective to others – the words which make up the equality register. understanding the major issues at stake, and at the same time the question of the place devoted today to open Marx’s theory of exploitation: debate comes up. According to the labour theory of value, only labour Nonetheless there is no end of history, and the creates value. Distinguishing between labour-time work- dialectics of social relationships keeps on working ed and labour power, Marx sees the source of surplus throughout the trajectory of capitalism. According to our value in the free work the proletarian delivers to the approach, in order to consider possible futures it is worth capitalist, and delivering free work is called exploitation. recalling that if cultural dynamics affects the choice of Exploitation does not seem obvious, however, in the SES contents, this acts in return, via the “economic eyes of the proletarian : that is not that his whole time is culture” they are supposed to fuel. The unchanged not paid to him, that is that the capitalist can impose a reproduction of capitalism is not the only conceivable price – his receipts – which exceeds the wage. With the future, for its dynamics is linked to the one of the sums of money he receives, the capitalist will buy the delivery of free work, especially, with its conflicts and remaining production, that constitutes the surplus value. contradictions, already working in the emergence of Exploitation is consubstantial with capitalism. It does not alternative texts. We shall have to integrate the play of result from an artificial scarcity but from the existence of 61