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The “Rashomon” Effect: Ideological Proclivities and Political Dilemmas of the International Monetary Fund

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Irving Louis Horowitz
Irving Louis Horowitz*
Affiliation:
Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey
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Extract

The title of my essay, invoking, as it does, the justifiably famous Japanese cinema verité production of Rashomon, might well strike a discordant note. My aim, however, is to clarify, not to confuse. The film describes a variety of eyewitnesses to a murder, each one of whom, infused with different motives, “saw” the event differently from the other eyewitnesses. This is little more than a modern-day version of Walter Lippmann's observations on the ideological, interest-laden nature of the formation of public opinion in modern society, but it serves us well in introducing the topic of this essay.

What I am suggesting with respect to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and what I hope to demonstrate, is that we are now experiencing a similar paradox in the sociology of knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , Winter 1985 , pp. 37 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1985

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