ABSTRACT
As mentioned in the last chapter, allocation systems represent a way of looking at bigger social systems. An allocation system is the method by which any sort of social system, be it a family, tribe, municipality or business, obtains, produces and distributes resources. But there is no simple way to sum up the allocation systems used by any organisation, however small. Even the systems employed by a tiny shop round the corner cannot be contained within the simple market concepts of ‘buying’ and ‘selling’. Still less can the allocative processes of vast businesses like ITT or ICI be wholly subsumed under the label of ‘markets’. Nor can the expenditure decisions of, say, the Greater London Council be neatly encapsulated in the conventional categories of citizen choice exercised through the ballot box. On the contrary, a given type of social system, whatever its size and sector, has to employ several types of allocation system in deploying resources. Moreover, these allocation systems interrelate in complex ways.
