Markets: a paradigmatic look

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show that knowledge in general, and knowledge ofrnmarkets in particular, is ultimately a product of the researcher's paradigmatic approach to arnmultifaceted phenomenon and therefore it is as much an ethical, moral, social, ideological, and politicalrnactivity, as it is a technical one.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Any adequate analysis of markets necessarily requiresrnfundamental understanding of the worldviews underlying the views expressed with respect to thernnature and role of markets. This paper starts with the premise that any worldview can be associatedrnwith one of the four basic paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radicalrnstructuralist.rnFindings - It shows that any view expressed with respect to markets is based on one of the fourrnparadigms or worldviews and is equally scientific and informative.rnResearch limitations/implications - The paper's discussion is limited to only four paradigms.rnOriginality/value - The paper notes that there are opportunities for functionalist mainstreamrnacademic finance to benefit from contributions coming from the other three paradigms and obtain arnbalanced view of the subject of their study.