Homo sociologicus in the economist's lab

An interesting panel in Dijon (France) next year, about the methodology of experimental economics:

Homo sociologicus in the economist's lab:
Can experimental economics deal with the social embedding of economic behaviour and cognition?

A panel on the methodology of experimental economics in the face of the social embedding of economic behaviour will be organised on the occasion of the 10èmes journées d'économie expérimentale, Dijon, 15--16 May 2008.

Studies in behavioural economics aim at providing a more realistic, empirically grounded, understanding of economic agents. Achieving this would eventually make it possible to understand how economic behaviour - as Karl Polanyi noted long ago - is embedded in the social context, and with what consequences.Yet, experimental economics is used for theorising regarding the actual cognitive processes and preferences of the agents on the basis of the behaviour of subjects in experimental settings, complying with the experimenters' instructions. Bringing subjects into the lab is often interpreted as a means of abstracting from the complexity of the social context. Is this really the case? And what does this imply for the significance of experimental results?

more details here

Social scientists willing to participate to the panel are invited to submit a one page abstract, together with the title of the plannned communication, the adresses and affiliations of the authors, and 5 key-words.
Abstracts are to be sent to: christophe.heintz@kli.ac.at
Submission deadline: 10, February 2008.