Rationalization

Rationalization

Rationalization refers to a defense mechanism that conceals one's true motivation by explaining their actions and feelings in a non-threatening way. It can also refer to a process that brings objects and problems into economic calculation, enabling scientific measurement and reducing the space of disagreement. However, this process can also lead to the opening up of new objects and sites of disagreement, rather than creating a clean and secure connection between the worlds of politics and the economy.From: Crime and Corruption in Organizations [2019], Styles of Revaluation: The Case of the Levelized Cost of Electricity [2021]

Be Alert for Unconscious Bias, Everyone Has It

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Published in Joel D. Levitt, Leadership Skills for Maintenance Supervisors and Managers, 2020

Joel D. Levitt

Rationalization (commonly known as making excuses) is the process of constructing a logical justification for an action, belief, or decision. It is a defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors (mistakes of some kind) are explained rationally or logically to avoid the real explanation (the person messed up).

Styles of Revaluation: The Case of the Levelized Cost of Electricity

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Published in Nuclear Technology, 2021

Başak Saraç-Lesavre

According to one traditional definition, rationalization is a process that brings a range of objects and problems into economic calculation enabling the performance of a scientific measurement and generates an “anti-political” effect by reducing the “space of disagreement.”12 However, as Andrew Barry argues, measurement and calculation not only have anti-political effects, closing down the potential for political debate, but also can set the basis for “an opening up of new objects and sites of disagreement” that are “far from creating a clean and secure connection between the world of politics and the world of the economy.” Therefore, economic calculations are political actions that produce new spaces of disagreement. As Barry suggests, “metrology increases the number of realities and creates new objects.”12

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Be Alert for Unconscious Bias, Everyone Has It

Styles of Revaluation: The Case of the Levelized Cost of Electricity