Talk:Market theology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Objectivity

The concepts of market fundamentalism and market theology are equivalent to an outside observer. If the beliefs of the adherents of one theory, e.g. market fundamentalism, differ from the other, e.g., market theology, can someone please explain in what way. Should they describe the same or very similar concepts, we need to merge the two entries into one. DocendoDiscimus 02:26, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

The concepts might be similar at first sight. But the concept of market fundamentalism (signifying: "the conviction, based on an incorrect understanding of economic theory, that free markets are universally beneficial"), has become popularized by George Soro's book, published in 1998, and has been since also widely adopted as a "concept" by academics; dozens of technical articles have been published, in many prestigious economic journals, using the term "market fundamentalism". Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz used market fundamentalism in the text of his own autobiography, on the occasion of the Nobel prize acceptance (2001).

Exactly the oposite happened with "market theology"; this expression has not been accepted by academics at all. I would suggest that "market theology" could become just a small sub-division at the bottom of the market fundamentalism's article, just to explain that it is roughly a similar concept but has not been widely adopted in academic circles. Or, alternatively, it could be deleted altogether, as a tentative neologism which did not "catch-up". As far as I know, no mainstream prestigious economic publication ever published the expression "market theology"; there are a few mentions to "market theology" (always inside quotation marks) in a few book reviews by mainstream publications, such as The Canadian Journal of Communcation "The problem is a "free market theology" which has rendered notions of public service and social responsibility passé and which is threatening to make us forget what democracy really means.", but I found no evidence that the term is widely adopted by this or any other mainstream economic publication.

200.153.161.141 13:57, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

In chapter 8: Understanding Market Theology (pp. 151-182) of the book The Invisible Hand And The Common Good, edited by Bernhard Hodgson, Springer, 2004, ISBN 3540223533, an author, John McMurty, tries to show the distinction between market fundamentalism and "market theology". The begining of chapter 8: Understanding Market Theology is freely readalbe online. 200.153.161.141 14:44, 12 May 2007 (UTC)