Introduction

This chapter seeks some clarification about the meaning of the "market" and of "morality." Morality and markets are part of everyday language. The concept morality is even more difficult to define than the market. A moral society — or one with a high degree of trust among transacting partners — provides some of the necessary ingredients for the emergence of a modern industrial society. The mechanisms for providing the trust necessary for the functioning of markets vary from one society to another. As societies become more industrialized, citizens become more secular and more engaged in the pursuit of individual self-interests, resulting in a decline in social trust and an increase in market-type activity. A number of commentators have argued that during the past half century in the United States, the social solidarity among individuals has declined.