Moral Markets: How Knowledge and Affluence

Nothing affects modern society more than the decisions made in the marketplace, especially (but not only) the judgments of consumers. Stehr's designation of a new stage in modern societies with the term 'œmoral markets' signals a further development in the social evolution of markets. Market theories still widely in use today emerged in a society that no longer exists. Consumers were hardly in evidence at all in early theories of the market. Today, growing affluence, greater knowledge, and high-speed communication among consumers builds into the marketplace notions of fairness, solidarity, environment, health, and political considerations imbued with a long-term perspective that can disrupt short-term pursuits of the best buy. Importantly, such social goals, individual apprehensions, and modes of consumer conduct become inscribed today in products and services offered in the marketplace, as well as in the rules and regulations that govern market relations. Stehr uses examples to illustrate these trends and build new theory fitting today's changing consumerism.

Nico Stehr is Karl Mannheim Professor of Cultural Studies at the Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany

Preface	p. vii
Overview	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
World-views, Economic Conduct, and Social Progress	p. 1
The Authority of Economic Man	p. 5
The Decline of Economic Man	p. 7
The Moralization of Economic Affairs	p. 15
The Dynamics of Modern Societies	p. 17
The Virtues of Market Conduct	p. 26
Encircling the Concept of the Moralization of the Markets	p. 29
The Genealogy of Markets: Why Do Markets Exist?	p. 43
The Social Origins of the Market	p. 44
Liberty as the Daughter of Markets	p. 46
The Loss of Freedom Through Freedom	p. 47
Homo Rationalis	p. 49
The Competition among Market Conceptions	p. 53
The Classical Conception of the Market	p. 53
The Great Transformation	p. 55
The Neoclassical View of Market Behavior	p. 57
The Unity of the Market in Its Diversity	p. 62
The Evolutionary Perspective of the Market	p. 64
The Economy of Love and Fear	p. 65
Economies Move Societies	p. 68
Markets as Sociocultural Practices	p. 79
The Critique and the Practical Usefulness of the Standard Model of the Market	p. 80
Sociological Perspectives	p. 82
The Contradictory Critique of the Standard Model of the Market	p. 85
Social Markets: Five Stipulations	p. 87
Explicating the Five Stipulations	p. 89
The Foundations of the Moralization of the Markets	p. 103
Markets, Biotechnology, and Environment	p. 105
Biotechnology Products	p. 107
Environment and Markets	p. 108
Modernity and Morality	p. 109
The Civilization of Capitalism	p. 111
The Logic of Modernity	p. 113
The Knowledge-based Modern Economy	p. 115
The Dawn of Affluent Societies	p. 121
Many Are Well Off	p. 124
The Poverty of Affluence	p. 127
The Advent of Mass Society	p. 134
New Dangers of Prosperity	p. 140
Mass Consumption	p. 144
The Embedded Consumer	p. 146
Knowledgeability and Economic Conduct	p. 161
Human Capital	p. 162
Cultural Capital	p. 163
Knowledge as a Capacity to Act	p. 167
Biotechnology, Environment, and the Market	p. 175
The Commonalities of Biotechnology and the Environment	p. 175
The Market for Biotechnological Processes and Products	p. 178
The Empirical Evidence	p. 182
The Environment and the Market	p. 186
The Empirical Evidence	p. 188
The Extension of the Moral Bases of Economic Conduct	p. 197
Economic Growth and the Moralization of the Markets	p. 197
The Globalization of the World	p. 201
Markets in an Age of Ecological and Global Modernization	p. 205
Conclusions and Prospects	p. 211
Statistical Appendix	p. 217
Bibliography	p. 225
Name Index	p. 261
Subject Index	p. 266
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Moral Markets: How Knowledge and Affluence Change Consumers and Products

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