A broad concept of economy: Economy as a social practice and the critique of capitalism

Abstract

The paper aims at discussing the possibility of understanding economy as a social practice that is connected to other practices and creates with them a form of life. To this end, it shall first define the concepts of practice and of form of life; furthermore it shall analyze some central tenets of capitalist economy (private property of the means of production, market and exchange, labor and production) starting precisely from these concepts. Finally it shall discuss the possibility of thinking capitalism as a form of life in order to create critical intellectual tools.