Our unfinished debate about market socialism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7354286 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Miller (0000-0002-3868-5792, Nuffield College, Oxford University, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 119-139 |
| Publication date | 2014-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Politics Philosophy & Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-594X • E-ISSN: 1741-3060 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1470594x14528648 |
| OpenAlex | W2015461873 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 23 |
This article reconstructs and reflects on the 1989 debate between Jerry Cohen and myself on market socialism in the light of Cohen's ongoing defence of communitarian socialism. It presents Cohen's view of market socialism as ethically deficient but a modest improvement on capitalism, and outlines some market socialist proposals from the 1980s. Our debate centred on the issues of distributive justice and community. I had argued that a market economy might be justified by appeal to desert based on productive contribution, but Cohen saw effort as the only relevant desert base, and claimed that only non-comparative judgements of economic desert were possible. Market-derived inequalities, therefore, could not be deserved. He also condemned markets for relying on the motives of greed and fear, and therefore as destructive of community. In reply, I asserted that markets also liberated people from fixed social roles, and that market competition could be viewed differently, as providing the most effective way for people to contribute to each other's welfare. In retrospect, this debate can be seen to raise questions about the nature of justice and the purpose of political philosophy that have come to the fore in recent exchanges between ‘realists’ and ‘idealists
Appeal · Capitalism · Competition (biology · Desert (philosophy · Distributive justice · Economic Justice · Economics · Law and economics · Market economy · Market socialism · Neoclassical economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · State socialism · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics
The incoherence of luck egalitarianism
De la economía a la ética, ¿qué fue de la política? Para una teoría estructural de la igualdad
Community through market competition
In defense of desert
Why Not Community? An Exploration of the Value of Community in Cohen's Socialism
Market socialism as a form of life
Who cares? Market socialism and social reproduction
Markets, Distributive Justice and Community
The eclipse of solidarity
Defining the duty to contribute
Joël Ruet, Des capitalismes non alignés
The Economics of Feasible Socialism Revisited
Toward Quantum Computing for High-Energy Excited States in Molecular Systems
Rescuing Justice and Equality
Complex Equality
If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You’re So Rich?
Philosophy and Public Affairs
Desert
Comparative and Noncomparative Desert
What is Equality? Part 1
Why Not Socialism
Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality
A Future for Socialism
Noncomparative Justice
Life is not a camping trip – on the desirability of Cohenite socialism
Principles of Social Justice
Rights and Duties in an Egalitarian Society
II. Marx, Communism, and Markets
II. Socialism and the Market
| Citations per year | 0.92 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |