lecture 7 (reasons against capitalist markets)

Question 1

self-interest vs collective interest (garret hardin)

Answer 1

in the case of the commons, the tragedy is the conflict between individuals freedom and the preservation of common resources i.e. those resources on which the survival of our communities depends on that allow us to live (such as the environment or water)

Question 2

tradgedy of the commons

Answer 2

when everyone works in their own self interest, resources are used up and in the long run everyone loses. However, in the other case we give up our self interest in order to preserve

Question 3

marketization

Answer 3

according to michael sandel, we live in an age of growing marketization; more and more goods are treated as commodities or market goods (i.e. produced, sold, bought and consumed at market prices)

We have drifted from a market economy becoming a market society

Question 4

according to sandel there are two reasons why certain goods and practices should not be marketized

Answer 4

The fairness objection points to the injustice that can arise when people buy and sell things under conidtions of inequality and dire economic necessity. Their agreement may not really be volluntary

The corruption objection is different… according to this objection, certain moral and civic goods are diminished or corrupted if bought and sold. The argument cannot be met by establishing fair bargaining conditions. It applies under conditions of equality and inequality alike

Question 5

skyboxification

Answer 5

the more goods are commodified, the more economic inequalities translate into social inequalities. The more is up for sale, the more the rich can buy benefits that are not available to the poor

cf. willingness to pay also depends on ability to pay

E.g. Access to health care
Access to political power
Even ethical consumerism

Question 6

marketizatino: corruption

Answer 6

according to sandel, some goods and practices have a specific kind of value that gets corrupted or degraded as soon as they are marketized or commodified

Converting wedding toasts and gifts into commodities doesnt destroy them altogether. But it does diminish them. THe reason it diminishes them is related to the reason that money cant buy friends: friendship and the social practices that sustain it are constituted by certain norms, attitudes and virtues

Commodifying these practices displaces these norms - sympathy, generosity, thoughfulness, attentiveneess - and replace them with market values. IN this sense, markets corrupt expression of friendship