The Market Society: The Transformation Of The Market Society

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The market society we live in today has grown tremendously, and has existed in many different stages in the economic sector ever since humans began trading with one another. The emergence of the market economy has been widely used because of its efficiency, leading to the development of our modern day cities. However, while much can be said about the efficiency and growth of the market economy, it has also been criticized for its selfishness and the difference between the rich and poor. A market society is one where markets are the main institution for the exchange of goods, as it is an economy that is not planned or controlled by a central authority, and operates by voluntary exchange in a free market. Karl Polanyi describes the transformation…show more content…
As the transformation of the market economy developed, this led to alterations to the way people worked, as explained by James Rinehart. Richard Bendix articulates the theories of Max Weber to the question of if the transformation of the economy was gradual, or if there were certain ideological conditions that supported the emergence of the market society. This paper focuses on why the transformation to market society is so significant by integrating material and ideological conditions. Polanyi refers to the emergence of the market society as "The great transformation". The first characteristic of market society is that it is "a self-regulating system of markets; in slightly more technical terms, it is an economy directed by market prices and nothing but market prices." (Polanyi, 43). This means the economy is controlled, regulated, and directed by…show more content…
Weber discusses class in the context of social stratification, as class is one dimension of the social structure and worldview. Weber saw that his way of life was marked by frugal living, and hard work. As Bendix states "This idea of hard work as a duty that carries its own intrinsic reward is a typical; attribute of man in the modern industrial world as Weber conceived it." (Bendix, 51). Weber's Spirit of Capitalism was a concept he contrasted with another type of economic activity that he designated as traditionalism. Traditionalism is present when workers prefer less work to more pay. The core of Weber's argument is that the spirit of capitalism is an attitude that regards work as an end in and of itself. The capitalist spirit is different because it motivates people to work simply because they believe hard work is important. The purpose of The Protestant Ethic was to show how certain types of Protestantism became a fountainhead of incentives that favored the rational pursuit of economic gain (Bendix, 57). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, is an exploration into origins and implications of capitalism. The purpose of Weber's work was to understand how capitalism had evolved to the point that it was at during this

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