“The Social Gospel” as a source for the moral economics project

Abstract

Within the social sciences, one may encounter the view that there is a need for a new unorthodox economics that more fairly reflects the realities of the modern economy and takes into account the values and goals towards which society wants to evolve. This article seeks to show that such an economics was also sought in the past. What American Protestantism pursued at the turn of the 20^th century was of a particular nature, as the modern form of capitalism was being born in this country. The social gospel gave impetus to the design of economics for social reform and the study of the behavior of economic agents in a particular institutional setting. Economists who were inspired by this religious tradition created American institutionalism, which is still a valid re­search approach today, in particular as a source of inspiration for ethical reflection on the economy. Indeed, the latter should start from a broader diagnosis of the state of affairs, including the historically shaped social and cultural determinants of economic behavior.