TheMarket(PolityKeyConceptsintheSocialSciencesseries)

TheMarketaddressesoneofthemostcontroversialanswerstothequestion,‘howissocialorderpossible?’EversinceAdamSmithconceivedtheideaofan‘invisiblehand’,advocatesofthemarkethavearguedthatsocialcohesion,materialprosperityandpoliticalvitalityarebestachievednotbycentralcontrolandplanningbutbylaissez-faire–thepolicyofnon-intervention.Inthisbook,AlanAldridgeguidesreadersthroughthecomplexinterplaybetweenanalysis,descriptionandideologythatcharacterizessocialtheorizingonthemarket.AdistinctivefeatureofTheMarketisitsemphasisontheroleofcultureinshapingthesocialrealityofmarketsasperceivedandexperiencedbypeopleparticipatinginthem.Ideologiesexaminedinclude:Marketfundamentalism–theconvictionthatfreemarketsareuniversallybeneficialMarketpopulism–theassertionthatthefreemarketreflectsthedemocraticwillofthepeopleEconomic‘man’–thenotionthatthemainmotiveofouractionsistomaximizeourpersonaladvantageGlobalism–theclaimbyneo-liberalsthattheglobalexpansionofmarketsisirresistible,makingpoliticalactionirrelevantTheMarketwillbeessentialreadingforstudentsandresearchersinterestedinthesociologyofeconomiclife,economicsociologyandpoliticaleconomy.