ABSTRACT
Political economy attempts to tie together the quest for power with the pursuit of plenty. But things which need to be linked are assumed separate to begin with, and indeed, the distinction between power and well-being is a fundamental tenet of modern social thinking. The origin of this duality goes back to the emergence of industrial capitalism during the latter half of the eighteenth century. Classical political economists, siding with the rising bourgeoisie against the ancien régime, promoted a novel idea: the 'free market'. Their purpose was to separate civil society from the institutions of family, community and state in which it was previously embedded (Polanyi 1944). According to Adam Smith, free markets operated as an 'invisible hand', a mechanism which he claimed automatically allocated resources to their most efficient use. But in order to be effective, the invisible hand had to be left alone. The call for laissez-faire was therefore a call for the depoliticization of production and well-being.
