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Essay on Market Society

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This paper is going to explain about the important shift to market society by explaining the material and ideological conditions that help integrate the society to transform into the market society. Firstly, this paper is going to explain the material conditions by showing what characterizes a market society and this also show how the market society differs from the structures of the previous social organization, and also the changes that take place in the workplace due to the shift to market society. Secondly, this paper will also be discussing the ideological conditions by looking at the early “protestant work ethic” and the “spirit of capitalism” and how those two is important to the emergence of the market society. Lastly, this paper …show more content…

46) because the interest for the good of the society or the community is shared collectively rather than individually. As the society shifts into a market society, social ties or relationships also shifts to a more economic relationship, where the relationship focuses on economic businesses rather than forging an interpersonal relationship between each other. Interpersonal relationships are not valued as much as economic relationships in the market society as people in the market society tend to think and use the material possessions for good of their own rather than for the whole society. This is a noteworthy characteristic of the market society because as, previously mentioned, society used to value more interpersonal relationship as everything is done collectively and with the shift to market society those relationships are not valued as much.
The third characteristic of the market society is the commodification of everything. Commodities are essential for a market society as commodities are “defined as objects produced for sale on the market” (Polanyi, p. 72). Everything in market society is commodified this includes things that previously were not even consider as commodity such as labour, land, and money. However, labour, land and money cannot actually be called commodities, Polanyi called these three elements of industry “fictitious commodities” (Polanyi, p. 72). Labour is not a commodity because it “is only a name for a human activity which goes with life

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