Competitive Equilibrium and the Social Ethos: Understanding the Inegalitarian Dynamics of Liberal Market Economies

Euclid Tsakalotos
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Euclid Tsakalotos: Athens University of Economics and Business, tsakalotos@aueb.gr

Politics & Society, 2007, vol. 35, issue 3, 427-446

Abstract: Economic explanations of inequality in liberal economies often appeal to social norms. This article argues that recent economic policies and institutional interventions, in favor of deregulation and away from participatory practices in both the political and economic spheres, have elicited norms that increasingly resemble those of the economic theory that has informed these interventions. This has altered the social ethos in an inegalitarian direction—individuals are more likely to conceive of themselves as acquisitive maximizers in their daily life, and there has been a reduction in the number of institutional settings for people to deliberate on their values, commitments, and other priorities.

Keywords: inequality; neoclassical theory; neoliberalism; social norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:35:y:2007:i:3:p:427-446

DOI: 10.1177/0032329207304342

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