ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 charts the rise of political economy and the idea of the market in modern thought, as an answer to the Enlightenment’s preoccupation with a post-theological-political solution for social order, from the Physiocrats to Adam Smith. The chapter follows with a joint historical account of industrial capitalism and political economy up to the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, which saw the generalised implementation of Welfare capitalism and the Keynesian compromise. Central to this narrative is how throughout this period, the Market never ceased to be linked to social order, yet remained embedded in the political and regulated by the State.
