Thinking socially and spatially about markets

Joy Paton, Damien Cahill

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

Abstract

It is the contention of this chapter that, despite some important differences, the various alternative economic approaches represent a “multidisciplinary” heterodoxy that coheres around a “social ontology” of markets (Paton 2011), which also opens up the possibility for a spatially grounded analysis. The shared conception of capitalist markets as socially constituted points to a clear methodological cleavage between the neoclassical and non- neoclassical approaches to theorizing and analysing markets. Furthermore, an appreciation of the social, relational and spatial character of markets prompts us to remember agency and to recognize that market institutions and processes can be – indeed, are – shaped by purposive human activity. This holds open the possibility of developing practical alternatives to the individualized, market- centric discourse and its attendant practices that have come to dominate policy- making across the capitalist world since the 1980s. Below, we first outline the conceptual foundations of the neoclassical understanding of markets as this evolved in the history of economic thought, pointing to the abandonment of concrete economic concerns in favour of abstract conceptions of market activity. The chapter then considers a range of theoretical perspectives populating the two broad areas of heterodox economics and economic sociology. We explore how this multidisciplinary heterodoxy effectively understands “markets” (whether explicitly or implicitly) as embedded in broader social institutions and processes and suggest how a Polanyian lens also extends this to the spatiality of markets. Finally, we acknowledge the interest in the social character of markets that has recently developed within neoclassical economics. We canvass these developments before concluding with reflections on some of the implications of thinking socially and spatially about markets.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMarket/Place: Exploring Spaces of Exchange
EditorsChristian Berndt, Jamie Peck, Norma M. Rantisi
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherAgenda Publishing
Pages29-47
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9781788211260
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • economics
  • neoclassical school of economics
  • markets

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