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Sample Chapter: Whatever Happened to Ethics in Economics?
Rumours of a Moral Economy by Christopher Lind - Sample Chapter - Fernwood Press -

• Introduction: “What Kind of World Do We want to Live In?”
  
• Chapter 1: Whatever Happened To The Ethics In Economics?
  
• Chapter 2: Remembering A Moral Economy
  
• Chapter 3: Community As A Basis Of Resistance
  
• Chapter 4: Embeddedness & Theories Of Moral Economy
  
• Chapter 5: Marginalization & The Shadow Side Of Economic Globalization •
  
• Chapter 6: The Common Good: Sustainability, Sufficiency, Solidarity And Equity
  
• Conclusion: Envisioning A Moral Economy

Do economies have ethics?

Lind convincingly argues that although economics and ethics are understood to be separate at the level of ideas, in practice, economies are deeply embedded in society, relationships and morality.

This new book will argue that there is a moral economy which exists as a coherent set of moral values embedded in strong communities. These values and commitments reveal themselves in times of crisis as guides for how to act when things are not normal.

The public response to the flooding of the Red River Valley in 1997 would be an example of this behaviour when people were rescued according to their need and not according to their class, status or ethnic background. The moral economy is also revealed by its absence, as when the state responded with indifference to the need of racialized minorities in the Katrina disaster of 2005.

This book builds on the work of E.P.Thompson who recovered the term for modern use. His study of the 18th century English food riots demonstrated that peasant farmers remembered the royal proclamations of the 16th century regarding what was a just price for bread in times of famine. They were also able to interpret these rules for famines caused by market systems rather than drought and were willing to enforce these standards when local magistrates would not.

This book also builds on the work of James C. Scott whose studies of peasant societies under French colonial rule in the 20th century revealed that a moral economy was operating there as well. Scott extended the concept with his analysis of public transcripts of moral life and the hidden transcripts of moral life. These concepts have now been used retrospectively by biblical scholars to re-read accounts of peasant behaviour in ancient times and recover lost records of resistance to oppression.

Rumours of a Moral Economy will demonstrate how this concept has been actively present in the past. It will also show how it continues to erupt in the present and how it can be used in the future to build a society that recognizes and supports community life.

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other books by Christopher Lind here »

Rumours of a Moral Economy