Economizing Strategy: An Application and Critique

This essay is a theoretical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of social theory as derived from neoclassical economics (i.e., the economizing strategy) and Marxism. The goal of this analysis is to move beyond the simplistic Marxism versus neoclassicism polemic. An interest in both perspectives may be based on the limitations of either paradigm. A production orientation is used as a starting point of an analysis of social change in the Caribbean, and in a small village of Martinique; the economizing strategy provides an alternative perspective.