Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 136 Institutional Barriers to Pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France) Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional Barriers to Timothée Parrique Pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France) Timothée Parrique Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences Master Thesis E, in Sustainable Development, 30 credits Printed at Department of Earth Sciences, Master’s Thesis Geotryckeriet, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 2013. E, 30 credits Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 136 Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional Barriers to Pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France) Timothée Parrique Supervisor: Peter Söderbaum Evaluator: Eva Friman Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional barriers to pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint Quentin (France) TIMOTHÉE PARRIQUE Parrique, Timothée, 2013. Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional Barriers to Pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France), Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University No. 136, 63pp. Abstract: While commitments made at the Rio+20 conference paved the road for the building of a green and fair economy, the ability of economics to provide a satisfactory intellectual framework to support this process has been increasingly questioned, particularly since the 2008 global financial crisis. In order to make economics more responsive to present and future challenges, this study argues that education in economics must be centred on the pursuit of sustainable development with what has been termed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). To qualify as ESD, this paper contends that economics education must embrace pluralism on four levels (theoretical, methodological, disciplinary and pedagogical). This fourfold pluralism will improve economists’ capacity to deal with societal challenges and allow for the long-term building of resilient green-er and fair-er economies. The University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France) Bachelor of Economics and Management is chosen as a case study to identify the current institutional factors hindering the opening of economics education to pluralism. The thesis draws on relevant literature in the field, and also utilises interviews undertaken with five economic professors teaching in the Bachelor. Following analysis of the case study, five main barriers to a plural economics education were found; these barriers are professionalisation, recruitment, evaluation, laziness and performance. Keywords: sustainable development, green economy, fair economy, economics, education, pluralism, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Timothée Parrique, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden i Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional barriers to pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint Quentin (France) TIMOTHÉE PARRIQUE Parrique, Timothée, 2013. Economics Education for Sustainable Development: Institutional Barriers to Pluralism at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France), Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University No. 136, 63pp. Summary: During the last United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development (June 2012), member states renewed their commitment to “ensuring the promotion of an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations” (UN, 2012, p. 1) through the building of a green and fair economy. At the core of this strategy, participants stressed the need for a new type of education. This Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was defined as an education that will “allow every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future” (UNESCO, 2012). This study aims to (1) define how education in economics could evolve in order to become an ESD and (2) identify the institutional barriers that could hinder such a change taking the Bachelor of Economics and Management at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin (France) as a case study. Keywords: sustainable development, green economy, fair economy, economics, education, pluralism, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Timothée Parrique, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden ii Contents Preface: The author as a political economic person ................................................................... v Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................... vi Acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The state of the world in 2013 ............................................................................................ 1 1.1.2 Commitments towards sustainable development (SD) ....................................................... 2 1.1.3 The state of economics in 2013 .......................................................................................... 3 1.2 Rationale: Why is economics and its teaching related to sustainability issues? ........................ 4 1.3 Aim, scope and relevance .......................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Structure .................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: Vision and concepts .............................................................................................. 8 2.1 Pre-analytic vision ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Conceptual framework .............................................................................................................. 9 2.2.1 Actor and organisation ........................................................................................................ 9 2.2.2 Institutional change and inertia ......................................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) ............................................................... 11 Chapter 3: Perspectives on economics education ................................................................ 13 3.1 Classification and terminology ................................................................................................ 13 3.2 On the content and form of education in economics ............................................................... 14 3.2.1 The dominance of neoclassical economics and its dangers .............................................. 14 3.2.2 Pluralist approaches .......................................................................................................... 16 3.2.3 The benefits and pitfalls of pluralist teaching ................................................................... 18 3.2 On institutional change: Barriers for pluralism ....................................................................... 19 Chapter 4: Methods ............................................................................................................... 22 4.1 Methodological rationale ........................................................................................................ 22 4.2 Case selection ......................................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Research design ...................................................................................................................... 23 4.3.1 In-depth interviews ........................................................................................................... 23 4.3.2 Questionnaires .................................................................................................................. 24 4.4 Discourse analysis methods ..................................................................................................... 25 4.5 Methodological limitations...................................................................................................... 25 4.5.1 Case selection and research design ................................................................................... 25 4.5.2 Data collection .................................................................................................................. 25 4.5.3 Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 26 iii Chapter 5: Case study background ...................................................................................... 27 5.1 Historical context .................................................................................................................... 27 5.1.1 The Dreyfus affair of economics ...................................................................................... 27 5.1.2 Economic crisis