The Market

by Aldridge, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780745632230
• ISBN10: 0745632238
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-23
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

The Market addresses one of the most controversial answers to the question, ls"how is social order possible?rs" Ever since Adam Smith conceived the idea of an ls"invisible handrs", advocates of the market have argued that social cohesion, material prosperity and political vitality are best achieved not by central control and planning but by laissez-faire the policy of non-intervention. In this book, Alan Aldridge guides readers through the complex interplay between analysis, description and ideology that characterizes social theorizing on the market. A distinctive feature of The Market is its emphasis on the role of culture in shaping the social reality of markets as perceived and experienced by people participating in them. Ideologies examined include: Market fundamentalism the conviction that free markets are universally beneficial Market populism the assertion that the free market reflects the democratic will of the people Economic ls"manrs" the notion that the main motive of our actions is to maximize our personal advantage Globalism the claim by neo-liberals that the global expansion of markets is irresistible, making political action irrelevant The Market will be essential reading for students and researchers interested in the sociology of economic life, economic sociology and political economy.

Author Biography

Alan Aldridge is Reader in the Sociology of Culture at the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Introduction	1	(4)
1 The Rise of the Market	5	(35)
Elements of Market Society	8	(2)
The Invisible Hand: Social Co-ordination Without a Co-ordinator	10	(8)
Freedom, Liberalism and the Market	18	(6)
Christian, Civic Republican and Marxian Responses	24	(7)
The Market as Utopia or Dystopia	31	(6)
The Expansion of the Market	37	(3)
2 Capitalism and the Free Market: Success and Failure	40	(41)
Market Populism	40	(7)
The Efficient Market	47	(2)
Market Fundamentalism	49	(7)
Public Choice Theory	56	(2)
Rational Choice and Instrumental Rationality	58	(8)
Market Failure	66	(6)
Denying Market Failure: In Defence of Monopoly	72	(4)
Market-based Solutions: Protecting the Environment	76	(2)
Is and Ought: The Market as Ideology	78	(3)
3 The Social Reality of Markets	81	(48)
The Problem of Social Order	82	(6)
A Question of Trust	88	(6)
Embeddedness, Trust — and Fraud	94	(4)
Abandoned Markets, Abandoned Consumers	98	(3)
Human Beings as Rational Actors	101	(6)
Freedom and Autonomy	107	(3)
Money and Monies	110	(6)
Primitive and Modern Economies	116	(6)
The 'Problem' of Culture	122	(7)
4 Colonization, Compromise and Resistance	129	(29)
Beck's Critique of Globalism	130	(2)
The Globalization of Nothing?	132	(4)
Market Socialism	136	(4)
The Third Way	140	(6)
In Defence of Practices	146	(6)
Promotional Culture: The Case of Universities	152	(2)
The Market Experience	154	(4)
References	158	(7)
Index	165