Homo Economicus and Homo Islamicus, Revisited: Islamic Finance and the Limits of Economic Reason

This paper examines some characteristics of efforts to make Islam compatible with capitalism. It asks what limits, if any, exist on the extension of economic rationality that is characteristic of conventional finance and neoliberalism more generally? In so doing, I argue that a contrast between homo economicus and homo Islamicus is useful insofar as it draws attention to the different approaches to the problem of the extension of economic rationality as it pertains to both conventional and Islamic finance. To highlight this distinction the paper draws on two ethnographic research projects I have undertaken to compare efforts to reconcile Islam and economic action. The first is an attempt to inculcate Islamic values among corporate employees under the presumption that such values are conducive to economic productivity and efficiency. The second is the attempt to create a viable system of Islamic finance that adheres to religious limits on economic action as an explicit alternative to co