This is a summary of the most important information from Philosophy of Administration studies lectures. The summary also answers the learning goals of every lecture. It identifies the most important concepts of the learning objectives.
Philosophy of Administration Studies –
Lecture notes
Lecture 8: Morality and Markets
Literature: Debra Satz (2010). Why some things should not be for sale
(chapter 4).
Learning goals:
1. Understand what markets mean:
Markets An allocation system of goods and services:
"Institutions in which individuals or collective agents exchange goods and
services. They usually use money as a medium of exchange, which leads
to the formation of prices."
2. Understand whether the following statement “some things should
not be for sale” could be justified.
Satz argues that there are certain goods and services that should not be
commodified or treated as mere commodities to be bought and sold in the
marketplace. It can lead to inequalities (essential goods like healthcare
for those who can afford to pay higher gain greater access to these
resources, those who cannot are left at a disadvantage).
There is a potential for exploitation. Allowing market transactions for
goods like organs or reproductive services may exploit vulnerable
individuals who are motivated by financial desperation to sell parts of their
bodies or engage in risky behaviors.
Allowing market forces to dictate all aspects of human life can lead to a
corrosion of moral and social values. When everything is available for sale,
there is a risk of prioritizing profit over ethical considerations (corruption
of values).
3. Understand the limit of the market, by answering to the question
“where should the market ‘stop’? Should it be stopped?”
There are certain goods and services that should be kept outside the realm
of market transactions. Satz emphasizes the importance of preserving
human dignity and respect in all areas of life. Goods such as human
organs possess intrinsic value that should not be commodified. Allowing
these aspects of life to be bought and sold may lead to exploitation or
degradation.
4. Understand the notion of “noxious market”
A noxious market = markets that are morally and ethically problematic.
They are characterized by extremely harmful outcomes for individuals and
,for society, weak agency, and vulnerabilities that give some people
significant power over others. Consists of four criteria:
1. Harm to individuals: they cause significant harm to the
participants. This harm can be physical, psychological, or economic.
For example, markets in addictive drugs or hazardous labor
conditions expose individuals to considerable risk and damage.
2. Harm to society: it undermines the social framework needed for
people to interact as equals. They create or perpetuate unfair power
dynamics, such as those found in markets for sexual labor or
exploitative employment contracts, where one party has
disproportionate control over another (child labor).
3. Extreme vulnerability: they involve participants who are highly
vulnerable. This vulnerability can stem from severe poverty, lack of
education, or social marginalization, which forces individuals into
these markets out of desperation rather than genuine choice.
4. Weak agency/knowledge: participants in noxious markets often
lack sufficient autonomy or the ability to make well-informed and
voluntary decisions. This could be due to misinformation, coercion,
or circumstances that severely limit their ability to act freely.
Important debates on the market:
- For In defense of the market:
o Adam Smith:
Historical context: protectionism
The author of the wealth of Nations (1776)
Invented the concept of “The free market and the
invisible hand”.
If there is a free market there will be a regulation
by the market to regulate the prices, and
transactions.
Defender of individualized wealth
o Friedrich Hayek:
Austrian School of Economics:
Free market as the general condition of freedom.
Central planning vs. free market:
Government interference problematized
advocated reduced role of the government.
- Against Critique of the market:
o Karl Marx (Marxism):
Against commodification the process by which goods,
services or other aspects of human life are treated as
objects that can be bought, sold, or traded as
commodities in the market.
Market versus democracy
Market is inimical to democracy.
Instability of the markets
At a certain moment in time, capitalism will end.
Solution:
Abolition of markets and capitalism
, No private property, no central planning
o John Rawls:
Qualified (liberal) support for the market
A tamed market through interventions and control
The importance of institutions
Political control is necessary.
Welfare state: redistribution
Limits of the market
- Michael Sandel: Critique of market society
o The end of the era of market triumphalism
o Markets should have a limit.
o Why worry about limitless markets?
Inequality “In a society where everything is for sale,
life is harder for those of modest means. The more
money can buy, the more affluence (or the lack of it)
matters.”
Corruption “Putting a price on the good things in life
can corrupt them. That’s because markets don’t only
allocate goods; they also express and promote certain
attitudes toward the goods being exchanged.”
- Debra Satz: Noxious markets
o "Some markets are noxious and need to be blocked or
severely constrained if the parties are to be equals in a
particular sense, as citizens in a democracy.”
o Criteria for noxious markets:
Harmful outcomes to individuals
Harmful outcomes to society
Very weak or highly asymmetric knowledge/agency
Amplifying extreme vulnerability
o “A central feature of most noxious markets on my approach
has to do with their effects on the relationships between
people, particularly the horizontal relationship of equal status.
For two people to have equal status they need to see each
other as legitimate sources of independent claims and they
need to each have the capacity to press their claims without
needing the other’s permission to do so. This requires that
each have rights and liberties of certain kinds as well as very
specific resources, such as a level of education.”
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