From upgrades in jail cells to companies that stand in the queue for you: there is nothing money cannot buy. Following this statement, Michael Sandel gives a possible explanation for the loss of social values and civic participation in the past three decades. He argues that we have taken the market economy a step too far, to the market society. It is a society in which market values and thinking begin to dominate every aspect of life.
As a student, one example springs to my mind: the University. With the corporatisation of university management and the constant struggle to improve on league tables, universities have turned into a necessary means to be prepared for the job market in the knowledge economy. Rather than being an institution of learning and education, the main goal today is to rush through university to gain as many employability skills and certificates as possible in as little time as possible.
However, Sandel asks the most important question: Why should we care? First, he says, the more money can buy, the more affluence or lack of it matters. Inequality matters more if money comes to determine basic aspects of a good life, like healthcare for example. Second, in some social processes, market thinking may lead to unfavorable outcomes. Sandel gives the example of motivating children in schools by giving them cash rewards for good grades. Would the money incentive crowd out the intrinsic lesson of loving to learn?
Thus, Sandel argues for a debate about what values we, as a society, want to preserve and protect from the intrusion of markets.
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