Nothing I’ve ever written was anti-market. Being against the market is like being against conversation. It’s a form of exchange. But I was just as hostile in the past to giving any privileges to the market as I am now. Besides, those who are great advocates of the market don’t always make it easier for people to have access to the market through basic education, credit or whatever. (my emphasis).
8 replies on “Quote #33”
so what’s your point then?
My point that anti-market fundamentalism is as dumb as market fundamentalism. Markets are as fundamental as conversation. They can’t be removed from society – there were markets in the USSR, there were black markets in Auchwitz. The point is to recognise that markets are constructed by society and to affect that construction. Free market libertarians are trying to pull the wool over our eyes by denying that there is a debate to be had about what kind of markets we want. There are no platonic ‘free’ markets, they are *always* socially designed, and we urgently need to debate how our markets work- and how we want them to work- rather than just bicker about whether we are pro- or anti- market.
Or quoting Utah Philips again “The profit system follows the path of least resistence and following the path of least resistence is what made the river crooked! So you’ve got to learn to resist!”…The message has never been “go with the flow”, but it has never been “resist the flow” either, the message has got to be “respect the flow”
Straight?
Understood now. I wasn’t sure if by quoting Amartya Sen you were concurring with him.
Sure, “markets” are just exchange, and are fundamental to social existence.
But a question – are markets constructed by society or the participants? Or are those one and the same? Are they really designed by someone? Or is there a natural logic to social markets? Of course, neo-liberals would argue there is. If we agree there is an alternative design of market that is better than what we have now – how do we overturn the status quo? Subversion? Revolution? Or should i have another coffee?
And here for the intellectual “market” – what is the relative value of answers over questions?
Markets are constructed by society – which is of course short-hand for the culture, polis and aggregation of individual actions of the participants. They are constructed, but not entirely intentionally designed – although intentional design can play a role. I don’t know how we overturn the status quo, but i reckon kicking the intellectual foundations out from under neo-liberalism is a good start…
That, and tie-die.
🙂
Nice Sen Quote
Nothing I’ve ever written was anti-market. Being against the market is like being against conversation. It’s a form of exchange. But I was just as hostile in the past to giving any privileges to the market as I am now.
Aren’t you being a bit broad brush? The way you describe it, a market is anything that allows exchange of anything between two entities. That means a conversation is an example of a market transaction.
Surely the debate is whether you should try and influence or regulate an economic market for the benfit of the many, or whether in fact they are best served by no intervention.
And whatever Mr. Sen may like to have you believe, you don’t take up the post of Master of Trinity college Cambridge if you believe in liberal intervention in markets for the greater good…
😉
I think trying to broaden the conception of markets is essential given the way neoliberals have tried to propogate a particular view of what markets are, and should be (and part of that view is seperate from politics which they aren’t and can’t be).
Yes, the debate *should* be about how you deal with the market, but the neoliberals are trying to roll out market fundamentalism, while the lefties have been distracted into trying to argue that markets are bad intrinsically, leaving little room for debating the funadaments of how we manage markets.
Or at least, I haven’t seen enough interesting debate on this point.
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