Laszlo Zsolnai, Gabor Kovacs, & Andras Ocsai ‘Why Do We Need Contemplative Aproaches in Economics and Management?’ Society and Economy, 2018, vol.40, no. 4, pp. 493-496
Contemplative traditions (including meditation) are one of the oldest traditions of humanity. It has been present in all major religions in one way or another. Meditation is at the heart of contemplative traditions. It can be defined in various ways. Walsh and Shapiro (2006, 228-229) state that mediation refers to “a family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration”. Cahn and Polich (2006, 180) suggest that mediation describes “practices that self-regulate the body and mind, thereby affecting mental events by engaging a specific attentional set…. regulation of attention is the central commonality across the many divergent methods”.
Economics and management seem to be unrelated to contemplative approaches but recent trends in mindfulness applications in business and the growing interest in Buddhist economics show fruitful connections.
Why Do We Need Contemplative Aproaches in Economics and Management?