{"id":27358,"date":"2020-12-17T13:56:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T13:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themint.kinsta.cloud\/?p=27358"},"modified":"2021-10-02T11:39:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T11:39:42","slug":"the-mint-is-listening-to-sophie-adamson-21-third-year-economics-and-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/the-mint-is-listening-to-sophie-adamson-21-third-year-economics-and-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mint is listening to\u2026 Sophie Adamson 21, Third Year Economics and Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before coming to university, I wanted to study a degree which could teach me as much as possible about the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In sixth form, my friends and I had witnessed the British government mishandle so many issues, from climate change to Brexit, and there was a general feeling that politicians were letting us down. We were inspired by a desire for revolution and believed we had the power to change politics. I thought that a dual pathway of economics and philosophy would help me learn about the world and give me tools to evaluate decisions in an ethical way.<\/p>\n

On my first day of university, I was so excited. Curious about the world and full of hope, I couldn\u2019t wait to get started<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In a lecture hall filled with two hundred eager students, our spirits were dampened quite quickly. My micro-economics lecturer seemed more interested in getting through content as soon as possible, rather than trying to inspire us about the world. I was bombarded and slightly bored, by the technicality of economic theory. We were shown graphs, models and maps of indifference curves and budget constraints with no social context, and not much relevance to the world today.<\/p>\n

We were never asked to really think<\/strong> \u2013 only memorise and regurgitate. Tutorial sheets of aggregate demand and supply equations filled my weeks. It left me questioning economics as a discipline altogether. What was the point? What is economics? What purpose does it serve?<\/p>\n

Studying philosophy encouraged me to question everything. I once asked my macro-economics lecturer, \u201cWhy study an economy with only two goods, when in reality, there are millions of different types of goods in circulation?\u201d. It seemed pointless and over-simplified<\/strong> to me. He gave me a \u201cget on with it\u201d type answer, suggesting that it was a useful thought experiment which could give us the tools to explore more complex theories. This only made economics appear more abstract and intangible to me, leaving me dissatisfied and disillusioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lecture<\/strong> hall was filled<\/strong> predominantly<\/strong> with men<\/strong>. Despite being<\/strong> in my third<\/strong> year, I am yet<\/strong> to have<\/strong> been taught<\/strong> by a female<\/strong> lecturer<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When speaking to fellow students about my frustrations, I found that they too felt consumed by the abstract theories and mathematical equations in economics.<\/p>\n

I also noticed that I was in a minority group. The lecture hall was filled predominantly with men. Despite being in my third year, I am yet to have been taught by a female lecturer. Economics, as a discipline, is largely dominated by men. I felt conflicted and discouraged \u2013 am I in the right place? Am I wanted here? Is this a problem?<\/p>\n

My philosophy seminars, however, left me feeling inspired, interested and curious to know more. We were encouraged to question everything<\/strong>, come up with our own ideas about theories and respond to other students. In my Ethics tutorial, we argued over the existence of an objective moral reality. In my Metaphysics seminar, we explored the nature of properties such as colour, shape and size. My contributions were always welcomed and respected. My questions were never disregarded and were answered with enthusiasm and interest. It felt like a safe space.<\/p>\n

I am still surprised by the lack of collaboration between the Economics and Philosophy Departments at my university. No courses, modules or lecturers attempt to connect them at an undergraduate level. As two separate disciplines, I feel they have a lot to learn from each other and can be informed by one another.<\/p>\n

In my independent study, I found myself exploring the connection on my own. Thinking about the ethical implications of economics, thinking about the abstract nature of economics, questioning economics as a subject altogether. What is a good economy? What is a bad economy? Philosophy has taught me to critically engage and place value judgements on theories.<\/p>\n

In my third year, I am now enjoying economics more. I have specialised away from the core, theory-heavy macro- and micro-economics modules, and into health economics, business economics, and economic history. I am feeling more inspired<\/strong> by the content. I am learning and understand why the abstract theories we learnt in first year can be useful for understanding broader ideas in economics.<\/p>\n

In the future, I would love to see greater unity between the economics and philosophy departments at universities. I would also love for my course to include different perspectives of gender and race to make it more accessible and reflective of the real world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before coming to university, I wanted to study a degree which could teach me as much as possible about the world. In sixth form, my friends and I had witnessed … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[596,1658,1683,248,132,1357,633,1684],"class_list":["post-27358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","tag-climate-crisis","tag-dec-2020","tag-dialogue","tag-economic-pluralism","tag-economics","tag-listening-to","tag-philosophy","tag-sophie-adamson"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}