Autolykos and I briefly brought this up in another thread by Wheylous:
http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/28392.aspx
- and I forgot Ludwig Lachmann mentioned it here at the 42:00 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdymByxT1Gg
That the book Human Action is not an Austrian Economics book, but the book of a comprehensive look at the Austrian view of the social sciences.
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
When I explain AE to people I explain it as sociology, not through an economic lense, but through an individual lense and their relation and interaction with society. I can purvey the message I need to, but in a more fashionable language. I feel that when I explain economics, people view it as a mundane science that has no real affect on their surroundings and life, and preconcieved notions of the stance that AE has may create some bias. If I start off with subjectivity and individualism and interweave them, then it may already be appealing to the other person. I don't believe anyone would try to refute that humans act, and if I make the individual and subjectivity my starting points and then expand into that individual's relation, cooperation, and growth in society, well, I may already have them "hooked" so to speak, and the foundation is already laid. From there I can branch out. Also, sociology seems more fashionable than economics, start utilizing that language and those arguments with said axioms/starting points, and more people may be attraced to AE.
I certainly have more of a sociology hat than an econ hat - being that I have probably at least a 101 grip on all the basic social sciences. What I wonder is, if sociology could be looked at as the "starting point" for the social sciences (when looked at in a responsible manner); and that econ is derived from sociology - or should it be the other way around?
Either way, I think there should be a geneology of sorts for the SS in order for them to make sense - and it is important to say why it exists that way - and that it would be impossible for one to work in one field without ones head being in another.