ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the civil economy approach since it envisions both a more pluralistic account of human motivations and a more capacious notion of 'the good' than standard economic theory with its narrow conception of the 'ends' of the economy. It introduces the notion of 'separation' and how the economy came to be established as a distinct 'realm'. The chapter explores how the economic paradigm, particularly from the 1970s onward, came to exert a growing influence on other, non-economic realms of social life. It suggests that the growing reach of the market economy and its supporting theory/ideology has led to a reduction of the importance given to political and moral values. Alfred Marshall's 'austere conception' of the discipline was a forerunner of the ambitious contemporary claim that economics is a universal science. Any reconceptualization of how market economies and economic theory can incorporate a relational/ethical perspective will have to look at the attitudes and values tied to work.
