ABSTRACT
The conflict between unions and capitalism — or more accurately, between unions and a competitive price system — appears to C. E. Lindblom as essentially irremediable. Thus Lindblom was attacking one of the most sacred cows of the liberals — the intellectual establishment, so to speak. Some Marxists concluded that in Politics and Markets Lindblom had finally seen the light - their light; but they could not have been more mistaken. Lindblom's criticisms of pluralism, together with his view of the privileged position of business, were sometimes intepreted as an outright repudiation of pluralism. Lindblom's unwillingness to offer much in the way of solutions to the problems he poses probably has many sources. Lindblom is aware of the seeming discrepancy between the severity of his criticisms of existing institutions and the cautious and limited nature of his solutions. Lindblom simultaneously embraces and contests the values of the Enlightenment.
