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Jose Luis Coraggio: Another Economy is Happening |
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Page 4 of 27
By way of prologue it can be observed, as is implied above, that people are more likely to speak of “structural change” when many people are involved. A change in one person does not seem, at least at first, to be a likely candidate for being called a change in social structure. Another factor is whether there is a change in market relationships. (12) When we speak of the “structure” of the modern world, or of the global economy, or of any particular economy, we often refer to what can be called modernity’s main and most prominent institution, the market. (13) Indeed, one of the arguments for saying there would be structural change at the point where comedores populares provide food security for ten million people is that on this hypothesis markets could not possibly function as they function under the rule of today’s dominant paradigm. It would necessarily be harder to make a profit, or even a living, by selling food in a society where food could regularly be eaten without buying it.
One reason why Coraggio’s proposals are structural is that he wants to resignify the concept of “market”. He writes, “…I believe that we need to resignify the word ‘market,’ always associated with the existing capitalist market; there are other markets that are possible, there are other markets that today exist, and solid ones too… We need markets, because otherwise we cannot achieve scale, but these markets have to be regulated and organized together with economic actors who have a different social sense.” (14) Elsewhere he writes that markets should be understood as “...arrangements of rules for exchange, socially agreed upon and regulated.” (15) Markets should be deliberately segmented, for example to prevent the dumping of products of sweatshops, to encourage environment-friendly products, to raise wages, and to encourage the local economy. (16) These will be markets of solidarity, or ethical markets, but they will still be markets. (17)
Furthermore, the ideal market found in economics textbooks is a bogus entity. It does not exist in the real world. Coraggio writes, “The real market is not just a place of exchange; it is a place where power is exercised, a place of asymmetric encounters, a place where a monopoly has a power very different from that of a small consumer. It is a place where the so called sovereignty of the consumer is more than a metaphor; it is a mystification.” (18) For Coraggio a market is one institutional instrument, among others, which humans can employ to serve ethical ends. The market is judged. The market is not the judge. On the opposite view, which for convenience can be named free market fundamentalism, the market is judge. It is the institution authorized to decide, for example, whether worker owned enterprises ought to survive. If they can successfully compete toe to toe with multinational corporations in the global market, then they deserve to survive. If not, not.
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