Conclusions and political implications
To some, my recommendation that we drop the mechanical metaphor for economic functioning will no doubt seem like false consciousness or political selling out. I suggest, however, that the opposite is true and that political action will be dynamized rather than compromised by a more alive and nuanced observation of economic organizations and activities.
The idea that social and cultural life must be protected from money and markets leads, ultimately, to an attitude of victimization. “The pro- cesses of economics are inexorable; the best we can do is resist them from our small remaining pockets of truly social life,” this view says. This attitude does not really mobilize people to demand fair wages for workers because, it points out, the wage relation itself is intrinsically alienating. This attitude does not inspire a movement to demand responsible behavior from corporations because, it claims, businesses are driven by “the system” and cannot really be expected to act any other way. This attitude does not encourage people to investigate whether specific market institutions add to or subtract from human dignity in specific cases because, it asserts, we know a priori that markets always objectify. This attitude does not motivate people to lobby unambivalently for an adequate flow of financial resources to support caring and nurturing work because, it assumes, the entry of money is corrupting.
Consider this: Which of the following is likely to have more positive results in the complex contemporary economies in which we live, teaching that economic life must be harsh and ugly and that people have no responsibilities to others when acting in their economic roles or teaching that ethical (and even caring) behavior is the responsibility of people and organizations across all spheres of life? To the extent that our academic work has aspects of self fulfilling prophecy to the extent that it influences public discourse the implications of teaching the first theory are chilling.