On the Concept of Social Value (Schumpeter 1909) - Weekend Classics

English Podcast Start at 00:00:00Bengali Podcast Start at 00:13:40Hindi Podcast Start at 00:26:18German Podcast Start at 00:38:20ReferenceJoseph Schumpeter, On the Concept of Social Value, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 23, Issue 2, February 1909, Pages 213–232, https://doi.org/10.2307/1882798Youtube channel link https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcherConnect on linkedinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mayukhpsm/Welcome to 🎙️ Revise and Resubmit, and to another episode of Weekend Classics ✨📚Today we are rolling back the clock to February 1909, to an article that appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, now a proudly ranked FT50 journal: “On the Concept of Social Value” by Joseph Schumpeter. 🕰️📖 This is not just another dusty classic; it is a sharp, elegant argument from a mind that would later help redefine how we think about capitalism, innovation, and the restless energy of economic change.Schumpeter, the Austrian political economist often called the “father of entrepreneurship,” is famous for popularising the idea of creative destruction the notion that innovation constantly disrupts and remakes the economic order. 🚂⚙️ In this earlier piece, though, he steps into a more philosophical arena, asking a deceptively simple question: what does it really mean when economists talk about “social value”? Is there such a thing as what society wants, or are we always, inevitably, talking about individuals and their preferences?The article argues that pure economic theory must stay honest about its roots in methodological individualism. 🧠📈 Value, prices, and wealth distribution, Schumpeter insists, emerge from the tangled web of individual choices, shaped by who owns what and how much. He is skeptical of the comforting story that markets magically deliver the same outcomes a wise social planner would choose. At the same time, he keeps the idea of “social value” alive as a useful tool for thinking about completely different systems, like a consciously organised, communistic economy where a community might actually decide collectively.So in today’s Weekend Classics episode, we will sit with this tension:👉 When economists talk about “social value,” are we uncovering a real collective preference, or just painting a polite mask over the rough, unequal ballet of individual power and wealth in the market? 🤔💭Huge thanks to Joseph Schumpeter for this foundational essay that still sparks debates more than a century later. 🙏📜If you enjoy these deep dives into seminal ideas in economics and political economy, make sure you subscribe to “Revise and Resubmit” on Spotify, and check out our YouTube home, “Weekend Researcher” 🎧📺. The show is also available on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcast so you can listen wherever you like to think, argue, and daydream about ideas. 🌍✨