IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijsepp/v36y2009i5p535-565.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A model of dynamic balance among the three spheres of society – markets, governments, and communities

Author

Listed:
  • Rick Wicks

Abstract

Purpose - This paper revisits old questions of the proper subject and bounds of economics: does economics study “provisioning”? or markets? or a method of reasoning, self‐interested rational optimization? Design/methodology/approach - A variety of scholars and others in many fields make use of a taxonomy of society consisting of three “spheres”: markets, governments, and communities. It is argued here that this tripartite taxonomy of society is fundamental and exhaustive. A variety of ways of understanding this taxonomy are explored, especially Fiske's (1991, 2004) “Relational models theory.” Then – after communities and their products, social goods, are defined more thoroughly – a visual model of interactions among the three spheres is presented. Findings - The model is first used briefly to understand the historical development of markets. The model is then applied to understanding how economic thinking and market ideology, including the notion of social capital, can be destructive of communities and their production of social goods (and their production of social capital as well). Research limitations/implications - It is not possible to measure these effects monetarily, so calculating precisely “how this affects results” in a standard economic model is impossible. Practical implications - Nevertheless we could better prepare students for real‐world analysis, and better serve our clients, including the public, if – whenever relevant, such as in textbook introductions and in benefit/cost analyses – we made them aware of the limitations of economic analysis with respect to communities and social goods. Originality/value - The three‐spheres model offered here, based on Fiske's “Relational models theory,” facilitates this awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • Rick Wicks, 2009. "A model of dynamic balance among the three spheres of society – markets, governments, and communities," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(5), pages 535-565, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:36:y:2009:i:5:p:535-565
    DOI: 10.1108/03068290910954022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068290910954022/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068290910954022/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/03068290910954022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Corrigenda [Introduction to the Economics of Religion]," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1941-1941, December.
    2. Hirschman, Albert O, 1982. "Rival Interpretations of Market Society: Civilizing, Destructive, or Feeble?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1463-1484, December.
    3. Boulding, Kenneth E, 1969. "Economics as a Moral Science," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Buchanan, James M, 1978. "Markets, States, and the Extent of Morals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 364-368, May.
    5. repec:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:241-271 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Samuel Bowles, 1998. "Endogenous Preferences: The Cultural Consequences of Markets and Other Economic Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 75-111, March.
    7. Baron, James N & Hannan, Michael T, 1994. "The Impact of Economics on Contemporary Sociology," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 1111-1146, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rick Wicks, 2011. "Markets, Governments—," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 65-96.
    2. Wicks, Rick, 2011. "Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods," MPRA Paper 51674, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Rick Wicks, 2012. "Assumption Without Representation: The Unacknowledged Abstraction from Communities and Social Goods," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(1), pages 78-95, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wicks, Rick, 2008. "A Model of Dynamic Balance among the Three Spheres of Society – Markets, Governments, and Communities – Applied to Understanding the Relative Importance of Social Capital and Social Goods," Working Papers in Economics 292, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 01 Jan 2009.
    2. Wicks, Rick, 2011. "Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods," MPRA Paper 51674, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Rick Wicks, 2012. "Assumption Without Representation: The Unacknowledged Abstraction from Communities and Social Goods," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(1), pages 78-95, May.
    4. Niclas Berggren & Therese Nilsson, 2013. "Does Economic Freedom Foster Tolerance?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 177-207, May.
    5. Thomas E. Chamberlain, 1998. "On the psychological basis of economics and social psychology," ERSA conference papers ersa98p396, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2016. "Tolerance in the United States: Does economic freedom transform racial, religious, political and sexual attitudes?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 53-70.
    7. Jimena Hurtado, 2005. "The Utilitarian Foundations Of The Economic Approach To Human Behavior," Documentos CEDE 3633, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Jeffrey P. Carpenter, 2005. "Endogenous Social Preferences," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 63-84, March.
    9. Jacobs Martin, 2016. "Accounting for Changing Tastes: Approaches to Explaining Unstable Individual Preferences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 67(2), pages 121-183, August.
    10. Peter Maskell & Mark Lorenzen, 2004. "The Cluster as Market Organisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 991-1009, May.
    11. Panos, Georgios & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2009. "Union Mediation and Adaptation to Reciprocal Loyalty Arrangements," MPRA Paper 15471, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Rick Wicks, 2011. "Markets, Governments—," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 65-96.
    13. Neuteleers, Stijn & Engelen, Bart, 2015. "Talking money: How market-based valuation can undermine environmental protection," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 253-260.
    14. Bronk, Richard & Beckert, Jens, 2022. "The instability of preferences: Uncertain futures and the incommensurable and intersubjective nature of value(s)," MPIfG Discussion Paper 22/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    15. van Ypersele, Tanguy & Francois, Patrick, 2009. "Doux Commerces: Does Market Competition Cause Trust?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7368, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Gehrlein, Jonas & Crede, Ann-Kathrin & Adrian, Nana, 2020. "The impact of markets on moral reasoning: Evidence from an online experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Cosgel, Metin M. & Minkler, Lanse, 2004. "Rationality, integrity, and religious behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 329-341, July.
    18. Bouma, Jetske & Reyes-García, Victoria & Huanca, Tomas & Arrazola, Susana, 2017. "Understanding conditions for co-management: A framed field experiment amongst the Tsimane’, Bolivia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 32-42.
    19. Georgios A. Panos & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2013. "Reciprocal Loyalty and Union Mediation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 645-676, July.
    20. Menusch Khadjavi & Kacana Sipangule & Rainer Thiele, 2021. "Social Capital and Large-Scale Agricultural Investments: An Experimental Investigation [Implications of the presence of large scale commercial farmers on small scale farming in Nigeria: the case of," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 420-449.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:36:y:2009:i:5:p:535-565. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.