In economic discourse, economic imperialism has started to be discussed after Becker claimed that each and every aspect of life could be understood through economic analysis. While his followers support Becker’s position by asserting that individuals constantly make a cost-and-benefit analysis and come up with decisions accordingly, the others argue that the understanding of Becker is invading/colonizing other social disciplines in some way. In this paper, I will discuss Becker’s position in the discipline of economics through his way of conceptualizing noneconomic activities. First of all, I will briefly present the theory of prostitution studied by two followers of Becker. Then, I will mention some critiques from different alternative perspectives to challenge the fundamentals of Beckerian understanding. In the last section, my concluding remarks and the answer to the main question of this paper will be presented.
Gary Becker is the pioneering economist who has removed the demarcation line between economic and non-economic aspects of life and, therefore, enlarged the application of economic analysis (). He has worked on many topics and affected our understanding of discrimination, education, labor markets, crime, the family, social interactions and the law. With the perspective he provided, his followers also have focused on applying economic tools to investigate noneconomic phenomena.
The two of his followers, Edlund and Korn, have applied Becker’s analysis to