The Economy
Communitarians believe in the free market. But
they emphasize that the market--getting and spending--is not the whole of life. The free
market has proved a remarkable engine of prosperity, and prosperity is an indispensable
foundation of a stable liberal democracy. Certainly, the major alternative to
free-market economics--the command-and-control approach of socialism--has been
discredited. But in capitalist societies the economic impulse is always threatening
to overwhelm every other. The United States has experienced a remarkable run of
economic growth; productivity has surged. But the emphasis on getting and spending
has disrupted other crucial dimensions of life. In the majority of households today,
both parents work. This means that one of society's most critical
tasks--child-rearing and moral formation--is often getting short shrift. In an age
of electronic media, the drive for profit shapes our culture, and much of our culture is
no longer suitable for the young. Politics has increasingly become a money-driven
business, as candidates are forced to raise vast sums for campaigns.
The key to the communitarian approach to economics is the
quest for balance--between free enterprise and the social good, between the marketplace
and government, between economic freedom and society's broader needs.
Readings
Read Amitai Etzioni, "How to make a humane market," from the New
Statesman (UK).
Institute Chairman Norton Garfinkle lays out a communitarian vision of the
marketplace in "Communitarian Economics,"
from the Journal of Socio-Economics.
For Further Exploration
Boswell, Jonathan. Community and the Economy: The Theory of Public
Co-operation. London: Routledge, 1994.
Coughlin, Richard M. "Whose Morality? Which Community? What
Interests? Socio-Economics and Communitarian Perspectives." Journal of
Socio-Economics 25 (1996): 135-55.
Etzioni, Amitai. The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New
York: Free Press, 1988.
Granovetter, Mark. "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem
of Embeddedness." American Journal of Sociology 91 (1985): 481-510.
Ramsay, Meredith. Community, Culture, and Economic Development: The
Social roots of Local Action. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996.
Ver Eecke, Wilfried. The Economy and Values. New York: The International
Cultural Foundation Press, 1981.
Ver Eecke, Wilfried. "Ethics in Economics: From Classical Economics to
Neo-Liberalism." Philosophy and Social Criticism 9(1983): 145-68.
Ver Eecke, Wilfried. "The Limits of Both Socialist and Capitalist Economies."
Institute for Reformational Studies 348 (1996): 1-12.
Ver Eecke, Wilfried. "A Refundable Tax Credit for Children: Self-Interest-Based
and Morally Based Arguments." The Journal of Socio-Economics 25
(1996):383-94.
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