ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, virtually no aspect of democratic politics seems to have gone unmarked by the penetration of market logic, and it is increasingly problematic to even speak of “democracy,” as politics have become embedded, more and more, in markets. Indeed, even relatively weak conceptions of politics have been marginalized, as evident in high levels of public disillusionment with institutionalized political practices (Norris 2002; Patterson 2002). In their place, we find an increasingly widespread and popular fascination with politics mediated through market-based mechanisms or, in my terminology, “politics via markets.” In place of a role in decisionmaking, voters are offered methods designed with an eye toward “efficient” outcomes, in the belief that this will generate the greatest good for the greatest number. Any deontological concerns about means or justice are mostly ignored in pursuit of utilitarian ends. We can do good by doing well, in other words.
