Inventing the Market : Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory

Where would you go to see ‘the market’? To the trading floors of Wall Street? To your local farmers’ market on a Saturday morning? To a recruitment fair where large corporations and ‘high potential’ graduates court each other? To the famous tuna auctions in Tokyo? Or to the internet, to look up figures on aggregate supply and demand, production and consumption, currency rates and foreign trade? These are all instances and aspects of ‘markets’, but when we talk about ‘the market’, we mean something more. We mean the complex system in which people buy and sell, offering money, goods, labour, time, and abilities. We all participate in it, day by day, in our roles as workers, customers, or investors. As Adam Smith said, more than two hundred years ago, in a post-feudal society ‘every man lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant’.Our societies have, to a greater or lesser degree, become ‘market societies’: they are differentiated societies whose economic sphere is characterized by individual property rights, the pursuit of self-interest, highly divided labour, and complex mutual interdependencies. Their economic sphere is a ‘market economy’ functioning according to its own laws and principles, rather than supervening on other social relations. While there is more than one political form that market societies can take on, certain political structures—in particular the rule of law—are necessary for markets to become widespread, and the political sphere can in turn be influenced by markets, especially financial markets. Thus, our societies receive their overall character to some degree from the existence of the market. Its presence has had a deep and lasting impact on our lives, on our material well-being, but also on our social relations, the way we spend much of our time, and the notions we use for describing success and failure. Inventing The Market: Smith, Hegel, And Political Theory Analyses The Constructions Of The Market In The Thought Of Adam Smith And Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel And Discusses Their Relevance For Contemporary Political Philosophy. Combining The History Of Ideas With Systematic Analysis, It Contrasts Smith's View Of The Market As A Benevolently Designed 'contrivance Of Nature' With Hegel's View Of The Market As A 'relic Of The State Of Nature.' The Differences In Their Views Of The Market Are Then Connected To Four Central Themes Of Political Philosophy: Identity, Justice, Freedom, And History. The Conceptualization Of The Labour Market As An Exchange Of Human Capital Or As A Locus For The Development Of A Professional Identity Has An Impact On How One Conceptualizes The Relation Between Individual And Community. Comparing Smith's And Hegel's Views Of The Market Also Helps To Understand How Social Justice Can Be Realized Through Or Against Markets, And Under What Conditions It Makes Sense To Apply A Notion Of Desert To Labour Market Outcomes. For Both Authors, Markets Are Not Only Spaces Of Negative Liberty, But Are Connected To Other Aspects Of Liberty, Such As Individual Autonomy And Political Self-government, In Subtle And Complex Ways. Seeing Smith's And Hegel's Account Of The Market As Historical Accounts, However, Reminds Us That Markets Are No A-historical Phenomena, But Depend On Cultural And Social Preconditions And On The Theories That Are Used To Describe Them. The Book As A Whole Argues For Becoming More Conscious Of The Pictures Of The Market That Have Shaped Our Understanding, Which Can Open Up The Possibility Of Alternative Pictures And Alternative Realities. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. Introduction: In Search Of `the Market' -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2.a Post-skinnerian Approach -- 1.3. Structure Of The Study -- 2. Smith's Construction Of The Market: Nature's Wise Contrivances -- 2.1. Introduction: Smith Against The Cliches -- 2.2. Smith's Contexts -- 2.3. Smith's System -- 2.4. Smith's Notion Of Nature -- 2.5. Smith's Account Of The Market Society -- 2.6. Conclusion: The Vision Of General Opulence -- 3. Hegel's Construction Of The Market: The `relics Of The State Of Nature' -- 3.1. Introduction: Hegel Then And Now -- 3.2. The Living And The Dead In Hegel -- 3.3. Geist And Sittlichkeit -- 3.4. Hegel's Account Of The Market Society -- 3.5. Conclusion: The Modernity Of The Market -- 4. The Self In The Market: Identity And Community -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. The Social Self -- 4.3. Identity In The Market -- 4.3.1. Selling One's Labour -- 4.3.2. Choosing One's Place -- 4.4. Conclusion: Self And Society -- 5. Justice In The Market. Contents Note Continued: 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. Are Market Outcomes Deserved? -- 5.3. What About The Poor? -- 5.4. Conclusion: How To Theorize Justice And The Market -- 6. Freedom, Freedoms, And The Market -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. The Market And Autonomy -- 6.3.`enriching' Economic Freedom -- 6.4. The Social Structures Of Freedom -- 6.5. Conclusion: The Contexts Of Freedom -- 7. The Market In History -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. Two Ways Of Describing History -- 7.3. Conclusion: Understanding The Market In Its Time -- 7.3.1. Economic History And General History -- 7.3.2.`a Picture Held Us Captive'. Lisa Herzog. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [163]-181) And Index. Inventing the Market: Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory analyses the constructions of the market in the thought of Adam Smith and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and discusses their relevance for contemporary political philosophy. Combining the history of ideas with systematic analysis, it contrasts Smith's view of the market as a benevolently designed 'contrivance of nature' with Hegel's view of the market as a 'relic of the state of nature.' The differences in their views of the market are connected to four central themes of political philosophy: identity, justice, freedom, and history. The conceptualization of the labour market as an exchange of human capital or as a locus for the development of a professional identity has an impact on how one conceptualizes the relation between individual and community. Comparing Smith's and Hegel's views of the market also helps to understand how social justice can be realized through or against markets, and under what conditions it makes sense to apply a notion of desert to labour market outcomes. For both authors, markets are not only spaces of negative liberty, but are connected to other aspects of liberty, such as individual autonomy and political self-government, in subtle and complex ways. Seeing Smith's and Hegel's account of the market as historical accounts, however, reminds us that markets are not a timeless phenomena, but depend on cultural and social preconditions and on the theories that are used to describe them. The book as a whole argues for becoming more conscious of the pictures of the market that have shaped our understanding, which can open up the possibility of alternative pictures and alternative realities. Book jacket AcknowledgementsAbbreviations of Works by Adam Smith and G. W. F. Hegel1: Introduction: In Search of 'The Market'2: Smith's Construction of the Market: Nature's Wise Contrivances3: Hegel's Construction of the Market: The 'Relics of the State of Nature'4: The Self in the Market: Identity and Community5: Justice in the Market6: Freedom, Freedoms, and the Market7: The Market in HistoryBibliographyIndex 'Inventing the Market' explores two paradigms of the market in the thought of Adam Smith and G.W.F. Hegel, bridging the gap between economics and philosophy, it shows that both disciplines can profit from a broader, more historically situated approach to the market