The Invention of Market Freedom

How did the value of freedom become so closely associated with the institution of the market? Why did the idea of market freedom hold so little appeal before the modern period, and how can we explain its rise to dominance? In The Invention of Market Freedom, Eric MacGilvray addresses these questions by contrasting the market conception of freedom with the republican view that it displaced. After analyzing the ethical core and exploring the conceptual complexity of republican freedom, MacGilvray shows how this way of thinking was confronted with, altered in response to, and finally overcome by the rise of modern market societies. By learning to see market freedom as something that was invented, we can become more alert to the ways in which the appeal to freedom shapes and distorts our thinking about politics.

Author: Eric Macgilvray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 06/13/2011
Pages: 205
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780521171892

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2012

About the Author
Macgilvray, Eric: - Eric MacGilvray is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. He is the author of Reconstructing Public Reason and of articles in a number of leading journals.