Journal of Critical Realism in Socio-Economics (JOCRISE)

Money, Market and Systemic Causes of Poverty and Deprivation

Hifzur Rab — 2025-01-31

Real causes of growing poverty and deprivation are dominance of interest driven money depreciating capitalism and accounting in nominal terms. The system causes market failure in determination of just and efficient prices. These cause most of the surplus produced to be assigned to capital at the cost of share that goes to human capital especially the labour, while monetary depreciation (inflation) continues to eat away saving of the commoners. The system keeps prices of products and wages of the unorganised sector/developing and under developed countries relatively cheaper. Resultant concentration of wealth and power in hands of the rich/ developed countries allows them to ensure that favourable policies and programmes are adopted. These factors reinforce one other and even foreign trade lead to massive systemic transfer of wealth from poor and poor countries to the rich and developed countries. Massive transfer of wealth from poor to rich and from poor countries to rich countries keeps poverty and deprivation growing disregarding various poverty alleviation programmes worldwide. Dominance of this system together with failure of Islamic scholars to comprehend and address these problems especially monetary manipulation has compromised Islamic economic system that fails to manifest its truly just and efficient character

Pascal’s Wager and Theory-Induced Blindness

Joseph Mark Haykov — 2025-01-31

Pascal’s Wager asserts that, based on the descriptions of God in the Bible, an individual is better off believing in the New Testament God than not. This God, referred to as Yahweh in the Torah and as Allah in the Quran, provides a consistent concept of the Biblical God across these texts. Pascal suggests that the hypothesis that the Biblical God is real could turn out to be true. According to the New Testament, Torah, and Quran, it is more beneficial to believe in God than not. From this shared viewpoint, belief leads to heaven, while disbelief, by definition, does not result in heavenly rewards. However, Pascal’s Wager has historically not been taken seriously due to theory-induced blindness. This paper explores this concept in more detail. This paper explores theory-induced blindness as a cognitive bias that influences rational decision-making, particularly in religious and philosophical contexts. By examining its foundations in cognitive psychology, mathematical logic, and set theory, this study highlights the role of implicit axioms in shaping belief systems. It further critiques the dual-hypothesis approach of Pascal’s Wager and discusses its limitations. Through interdisciplinary analysis, this paper demonstrates how unrecognized assumptions can distort logical reasoning, thereby questioning the validity of Pascal’s proposition and its broader implications in decision theory.

Nozick on Geographical Regulations: A Critique

Walter E. Block Block — 2025-01-31

Nozick claims that under free enterprise, it would be possible for a malevolent very rich person to buy up land surrounding his enemy, and not allow outside of this barrier, and to prevent anyone else travelling within it. Thus, this target would be cut off from all trade and interaction with anyone else. In effect, this would constitute legalized murder. The logical implication of this critique of laissez faire capitalism, this “market failure” would be that the government ought to pass a law preventing this type of encirclement.

Reprint of ‘The Myth of a Normal Muslim: ‘Aql, Taklīf, and New Islamic Approaches to Neurodivergence’

Naba Ul-Alam Choudhury — 2025-01-31

This paper explores the intersection of Islamic concepts, such as ‘aql (intellect) and taklīf (legal responsibility), with the experiences of neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with autism. It argues for a re-evaluation of traditional Islamic understandings of disability to incorporate modern perspectives on neurodiversity. The research highlights that high-functioning autistic individuals possess the capacity to engage with religious obligations and that Islamic practices can be adapted to accommodate their unique needs. By advocating for an inclusive approach, the paper calls for a dialogue between classical Islamic jurisprudence and contemporary insights into neurodiversity, aiming to foster a supportive environment for neurodivergent Muslims within their communities. Ultimately, it seeks to provide a framework for understanding neurodiversity through an Islamic lens, promoting both spiritual engagement and social inclusion.

Editorial Notes:
A publisher’s error resulted in this article appearing in the wrong issue. The article is reprinted here for the reader’s convenience and for the continuity of this issue. This article is a reprint of a previously published article. For citation purposes, please use the original publication details; Choudhury , N. U.-A. (2024). P. 43-67

BOOK REVIEW: AFTER THE EXODUS: Gender and Belonging in Bangladesh’s Rohingya Refugee Camps

Farhana Rahman — 2025-01-31

After the Exodus examines how forced migration of the Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh has affected the gendered subjectivities and lived experiences of Rohingya refugee women, and transformed gender relations and roles in displacement. Based on 14 months of feminist ethnographic fieldwork in Bangladesh’s KutupalongBalukhali refugee camp in 2017 and 2018, the book uncovers the everyday strategies employed by refugee women to create a sense of belonging and to make a life for themselves after forced migration. Rohingya women adapt to camp life by negotiating marriage and intimate experiences, adjusting to changing gender divisions of labour, and navigating encounters with humanitarian aid agencies and male camp leaders. These women strategically bargain shifting power relations to reconstruct their lives in displacement, thereby reclaiming agency and asserting their identity through the spaces they create, inhabit, and reshape; the coping mechanisms they employ; and the bonds of kinship and community they forge.
Farhana Afrin Rahman is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow and Isaac Newton Trust Fellow at the Department of Politics
and International Studies, University of Cambridge, and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Her research interests include gender, refugees and forced migration, international development, lived experiences, and violence and conflict, amongst others