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Hidden by the Invisible Hand Neoclassical Economic Theory and the Textbook Treatment of Race and Gender Susan F. Feiner and Bruce B. Roberts The economics textbooks most widely used in the United States have a long tradition of blindness toward questions concerning the economic status of minorities and women, and over the past decade neither the quality nor the quantity of attention paid to these issues has improved. Scant attention is paid to questions of race and gender in introductory economics texts, and many types of racial or gender bias are evident. The most common of these biases reflect the race and gender blindness of mainstream economic theory and the concomitant tendency to define the economic status and experiences of white men as the norm. Minorities and women are most frequently portrayed in stereotypical ways, and their socioeconomic experiences are treated as anomalous or deviant (Feiner and Morgan 1987). This essay links the academic marginalization of the problems of women and minorities in the United States to the internal logic of neoclassical economics. In the United States economics, more than any other social science, is dominated by a single theoretical paradigm: marginalist or neoclassical theory. This approach explains pricing, allocation, and, indeed, all economic outcomes as the result of the constrained choices of rational, utilitymaximizing individuals (Wolffand Resnick 1987). For the majority ofeconomists this paradigm permits analysis of a vast array of situations of human choice, analyses viewed as both systematic and value free (Ferber and Teimani 1981). Both of these perceived virtues of neoclassical economics help explain the minimal nature of the impact made by feminists on the way economists think and teach. The neoclassical commitment to "equilibrium" analysis subtly shapes the form of the questions admitted for consideration, and so this systematic approach becomes a barrier to a more eclectic examination of issues, options, and arguments (cf. Glazer 1987). At the same time, economics seeks to be value free by grounding itself philosophically in the traditional 43 [To view this DUWLFOe, refer to the print version of this title.] 44 Valuing Us All positivist notion of a strict separation between positive and normative statements , and this separation further reinforces the general reluctance ofeconomists to tread in areas where strong normative interests are at stake. The textbooks typically used in the introductory economics curriculum in the United States share these traits of neoclassical theory. It is this common theoretical paradigm that we see as responsible for the striking lack of discussion of the economic situation of women and minorities in these texts. According to an analysis of twenty-one major introductory economics texts (Feiner and Morgan 1987), the number of pages that make even a passing reference to economic topics of special salience to women and minorities is remarkably small. Those texts were chOSen as representative ofthe field. Some are regarded as "high level" introductory texts because of the stress on theoretical analysis; others emphasize the goal of being accessible to the broadest possible number of students. All have a claim to be significant in at least some part of the overall textbook market, and, taken together, they account for the vast majority of economics textbook sales in this country (see table O. TABLE 1. Treatment of Women and Minorities in U.S. Economics Textbooks Number of Pages Referring to Minorities Total Percentage Author Date Edition and/or Women Pages of Total Amacher 1983 1st 5 725 0.69 Atkinson 1982 1st 5 723 0.69 Baumol and Blinder 1982 2d 16 836 1.91 Bronfenbrenner, Sichel, and Gardiner 1984 1st 15 915 1.64 Dolan 1983 2d 4 773 0.52 Fischer and Dornbusch 1983 1st 21 955 2.20 Fusfeld 1982 1st 6 718 0.84 Gwartney and Stroup 1982 3d 5 766 0.65 Heilbroner and Thurow 1981 6th 12 670 1.79 Leftwich 1984 2d 0 399 0 Lipsey and Steiner 1981 6th 15 958 1.57 McConnell 1984 9th 16 850 2.05 Mansfield 1983 4th 13 877 1.47 Miller 1982 4th 17 830 2.05 Ruffin and Gregory 1983 1st 6 798 0.75 Samuelson 1980 11th 22 861 2.56 Scott and Nigro 1982 1st 18 909 1.98 Spencer 1983 5th 4 868 0046 Truett and Truett 1982 1st 7 848 0.83 Waud 1983 2d 2 856 0.23 Wonnacott and Wonnacott 1982 2d 9 858 1.05 All books (average) 10.38 810 1.34 First editions (average) 10.38 823 1.26 Revised editions (average) 10.38...

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