ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the positive and negative aspects of the market, the latter from a perspective of social justice. Outcomes on the market are by no means always rational. Social choice theory attempts to supplement the economic theory of rational individual choice with a theory of rational social choice. The market requires no extensive planning or organising and, with the necessary checks and balances, looks to be an efficient and a just way of producing and distributing jobs, goods and services at 'minimal cost'. The chapter sketches the outlines of social choice theory and the famous paradoxes it has engendered. It examines critically the meaning of social choice theory for an adequate understanding of democratic decision making. The chapter looks at the way a number of game theory models have been used to explain social rules. It develops more general philosophical arguments against the reductionism employed in explaining concepts such as moral obligation and moral validity.
