science

Pat Devine

Pat Devine is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pat Devine rather than just read about it. In short: Pat Devine is a radical socialist economist concerned mainly with industrial economics and comparative economic systems. Devine made one of the most thorough descriptions of a future post-capitalistic economy which is based upon social ownership of the means of production by those affected by the use of it.

Key takeaways

Pat Devine belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pat Devine to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pat Devine from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pat Devine is a radical socialist economist concerned mainly with industrial economics and comparative economic systems. Devine made one of the most thorough descriptions of a future post-capitalistic economy which is based upon social ownership of the means of production by those affected by the use of it. The allocation of consumer and capital goods would be made by a form of decentralized participatory economic planning called negotiated coordination of those at the most localised level of economic production. This model is notable for specifying an array of social ownership rights and an analytic distinction between market forces and market relations. Another key aspect of Devine’s work has been a close reading of the notorious economic calculation debate and later attempts to offer a response to the objections by the Austrian school of economic theory. Similarly, Devine's work on the subject of industrial planning has largely constituted an extended critique of the Austrian theory of entrepreneurship. In this vein, Devine has argued that "a major weakness in the modern Austrian School's emphasis on the need for tacit knowledge to be socially mobilised by entrepreneurs participating in the market process is that participation is restricted to those with access to capital, thus ignoring the tacit knowledge of the majority of people". Devine is a joint author of the book An Introduction to Industrial Economics and author of Democracy and Economic Planning. He and collaborators Fikret Adaman and Begum Ozkaynak are particularly notable for their elaboration of a visionary socialist model that they call participatory planning. The most significant influences on Devine's economic thought were Karl Marx and the Marxian tradition associated with Antonio Gramsci as well as the economo-anthropologic theories of Karl Polanyi. As of 2008, Devine is an honorary research fellow at Manchester University. He began his academic studies in economics at Balliol College, Oxford.

See also Robin Hahnel Industrial Economics Participatory Economics Inclusive Democracy Post-Autistic Economics Participatory democracy Participatory politics

References

Democracy and Economic Planning: The Political Economy of a Self-Governing Society. Pat Devine, Polity Press, Cambridge UK and Westview Press. Boulder, CO., USA, 1988

Select bibliography

Articles in journals and books "Inter-Regional Variations in the Degree of Inequality of Income Distribution: The United Kingdom", 1949-65 as P J Devine Journal of The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, 1969, vol. 37, issue 2, pages 141-59 “Inflation and Marxist Theory”, Marxism Today, March, 1974, pp. 70–92. as P.Devine. "Market Socialism or Participatory Planning?", Review of Radical Political Economics (1992) “Socialist Renewal: Lessons from the ‘Calculation’ Debate”, Studies in Political Economy, 1994.(with Fikret Adaman). “The Economic Calculation Debate: Lessons for socialists”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1996.(with Fikret Adaman) “A Response to Professor Foss”, Studies in Political Economy, 1996 (with Fikret Adaman) “On the Economic Theory of Socialism”, New Left Review, 1997. (with Fikret Adaman). “The ‘Conflict Theory of Inflation” Revisited”, in Toporowski, J. (ed.), Political Economy and the New Capitalism, London: Routledge. 2000. “A Response to Professor Hodgson”, Economy and Society, 2001. (with Fikret Adaman) “Participatory Planning Through Negotiated Coordination”, Science and Society, 66(1):72-85. Special Issue: Building Socialism Theoretically. Alternatives to Capitalism and the Invisible Hand. Guest editor and multiple contributions.(2002): [1] "A Reconsideration of the Theory of Entrepreneurship: a participatory approach", Review of Political Economy, 1465-3982, Volume 14, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 329 – 355 (with Fikret Adaman). “Reinstituting the Economic Process: (Re)embedding the economy in society and nature”, International Review of Sociology, 2003. (with Fikret Adaman and Begüm Özkaynak) “Whither Ecological Economics?,” International Journal of. Environment and Pollution, 2002 18 (4), 317-335 (with Dan Rigby and Begum Ozkaynak) “Operationalising Strong Sustainability: Definitions, Methodologies and Outcomes,” Environmental Values, 13 (3), 279-303 (SSCI). (2004). (With Begum Ozkaynak, B, and Dan Rigby) “The Promise of Participatory Planning: A Rejoinder to Hodgson”, Economy and Society, 35(1):141-7, 2006. (with Fikret Adaman.)

Books "An Introduction to Industrial Economics", George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, 1974 authors: PJ Devine, RM Jones, N. Lee, and WJ Tyson, "Democracy and economic planning: the political economy of a self- governing society", Cambridge: Polity Press, 1988. (as PJ Devine). "Competitiveness, Subsidiarity and Industrial Policy". Editors: Pat J. Devine; Yannis S. Katsoulacos; Roger Sugden. 1996. ISBN 978-0-415-13985-4 (hardback) "What On Earth Is To Be Done?" (Manchester, Red Green Study Group). Authors: P. Devine with T. Benton, N. Gotts, P. Hoggett, R. Kuper, E. Lieven, T. Martin, J. Morrissey, C. New, M. Prior, D. Purdy, R. Simon, D. Thompson, H. Wainwright (1995) "Economy and Society: Money, Capitalism and Transition", co-edited with Fikret Adaman, Montreal: Blackrose, 2001. "Feelbad Britain: How to Make it Better", Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, Mar 2009. editors: Pat Devine, Andrew Pearmain and David Purdy (Editor) Book reviews "Parecon: Life After Capitalism", Historical Materialism (2007) 15:210-217, April 1, 2007.

External links Socialist Renewal: Lessons From the Calculation Debate [2]

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pat Devine

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pat Devine claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pat Devine before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pat Devine ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pat Devine

In research: Pat Devine appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pat Devine in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pat Devine is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century British economists, Living people, Marxian economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pat Devine outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pat Devine in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pat Devine means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pat Devine out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pat Devine in simple terms?

Why does Pat Devine matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pat Devine?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pat Devine.