{"id":2703,"date":"2025-12-22T21:14:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2025-12-22T21:14:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:14:44","slug":"c-what-worldviews-about-humans-tell-you-and-what-they-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/2025\/c-what-worldviews-about-humans-tell-you-and-what-they-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"C: What worldviews about humans tell you \u2013 and what they don\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/div>

\u201cWho am I \u2013 and what drives me?\u201d This question sounds philosophical, but it is highly economic. Because how we see human beings determines how we organize the economy. Here are the 3\u00bd most important human worldviews in economics \u2013 and why they reveal more about ideologies than about us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Homo Oeconomicus: Mister Self-Interest<\/h2>\n

He is the classic: rational, calculating, egoistic. The Homo Oeconomicus thinks in numbers and advantages. He wants more for himself \u2013 (almost) always. In short: Mister Self-Interest.<\/p>\n

The 19th century invented him \u2013 as the mascot of the property-owning bourgeoisie. And he remained because he fits capitalism perfectly: if humans are egoistic, the system may be as well.<\/p>\n

\"Housing,
Housing, food, health: when the three basic human needs are at risk, a person becomes an egoist. Photo: TEC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sure, we all have a bit of ego \u2013 it lies deep in our genes. In the Stone Age it was about survival, today it is about market share. But we now live in a world that needs cooperation instead of competition.<\/p>\n

Conclusion: This image was useful a few centuries ago \u2013 but it is long outdated.<\/p>\n

2. Homo Sustensis: the meaning-seeker<\/h2>\n

The Homo Sustensis wants more than money: meaning, sustainability, community. He thinks socially, lives mindfully, strives for balance instead of bonuses.<\/p>\n

Idealistic? Yes. But perhaps more realistic than we think \u2013 because the number of people who value meaning over status is growing.<\/p>\n

3. Homo Reciprocans: the fair player<\/h2>\n

The Homo Reciprocans believes in fairness. He acts justly \u2013 as long as others do, too. Fouls are punished with purchase boycotts \u2013 even if that makes life more expensive.<\/p>\n

The Homo Reciprocans thinks and lives cooperation not as an exception, but as the rule. Only: this requires a system that makes free-riding unattractive and rewards solidarity.<\/p>\n

\"The
What are you looking at? The Homo Reciprocans emerged as a result of \u201cgames\u201d in the laboratory. Photo: TEC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Homo Relationalis: the relationship-human<\/h2>\n

The Homo Relationalis is not a lone fighter, but a mirror of his environment. Friends, colleagues, culture \u2013 they shape his values.<\/p>\n

And culture emerges from economy. Or, with Marx: Being shapes consciousness.<\/p>\n

5. Homo Varius: the realistic model<\/h2>\n

None of these images fits completely. The egoist is too narrow, the idealist too utopian, the fair one too rigid, the relationship-human too flexible. Therefore we need version 5.0: the Homo Varius.<\/p>\n

He unites reason and empathy, individuality and community. He knows: his happiness does not depend on having, but on how he\u2026 Well, you will learn the details in the article about him. [Link]<\/p>\n

\n
Your TEC-Learnings:<\/div>\n
    \n
  • The Homo Oeconomicus is a distorted image \u2013 useful for markets, harmful for people<\/li>\n
  • A small amount of egoism is in all of us \u2013 but it must not be the basis of system design.<\/li>\n
  • New human worldviews show: We are more cooperative than classical economics wants us to believe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    \u00a9 The Economics Coach 2026<\/strong> (Cover photo: sruilk\/Deposit)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cWho am I \u2013 and what drives me?\u201d This question sounds philosophical, but it is highly economic. Because how we see human beings determines how we organize the economy. Here are the 3\u00bd most important human worldviews in economics \u2013 and why they reveal more about ideologies than about us. 1. Homo Oeconomicus: Mister Self-Interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[287,284,286,215,282,289,200,281,283,285,288,187],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fundamentals","tag-business-ethics","tag-cooperation","tag-economic-psychology","tag-economic-system","tag-economics","tag-fairness","tag-homo-oeconomicus","tag-human-worldviews","tag-ideologies","tag-relational-culture","tag-social-transformation","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2709,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions\/2709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}