Logic of the Market

Goals: Profit/growth/accumulation

Defining Characteristics: competition and efficiency.

Defining Strategies: Maximize efficiency and control to minimize risk over

1. Production process:

• raw material (for example, steel and education)
• production
• distribution
• labor
• consumer demand (is market consumer driven or is consumer demand determined by industry)
• search for new markets, deeper markets, new products

2. Political context:

• all laws and regulations relating to each of the above: lobbying the government.
• fairness of the market (see Thomas on Television Myths)--- media become engaged in representing themselves and the reasonableness of this economic process.

3. Tensions

• successful competition encourages the elimination of competition
• priority of efficiency displaces other values which can’t be reduced to efficiency.
• efficiency and control argue against innovation, but innovation needed for expanding markets and efficiency.