Market Mechanisms and Societal Moral Decay

A few years before the 2008 financial crisis saw a development of the markets. This was because of the widespread view that public good, freedom and prosperity were mostly governed and influenced by markets, and not the government. There was the belief that with market mechanisms, more could be achieved within the society. However, this is not the case. Currently, the market mechanism is constantly being questioned. This is due to the realization that with the belief in the markets, the society grows to be detached from morals and other social values. This calls for action in order to change this perspective. With the markets triumphing, there is constant failure in societal morals and values. However, a crisis such as the 2008 financial crisis

and the great depression is a responsibility of the banker and Wall Street executives to ensure they do not re-occur. However, the crisis was resultant from human greed. This is not entirely true. According to Sandel, such crises were caused by the fact that market norms and values were constantly permeating the social norms and aspects of life, traditionally untouched by market mechanisms. The only way to prevent such crises, Sandel suggests, is to create a distinction between the parts of the world where market norms and values are needed, and those where such are no requirement. A separation of the two worlds is what Sandel believes is the right way to go in order to successfully preventing any future crises.
Sandel states that there are three causes of market change.

The first is greed. This greed is what drives the bankers and the executives within the Wall Street. It is because of such greed that there was a form of irresponsible risk taking within the markets. The second cause of market change is the advancement of market values and norms into aspect so life where they are not needed. An example of such advancement is the use of markets in order to provide services, which can be considered as basic needs, such as; schools hospitals, environmental protection, criminal justice, procreation, recreation and national security. Allocation of such public goods using market mechanisms is a resent development, within the last few decades. The final cause of such changes is the cold war, which saw most of the countries adopt market mechanisms in order to attempt improving on development and

profitability.
The outcomes of such increment in market mechanisms are pinpointed by Sandel as inequality in the society and corruption. Life becomes harder in the society where inequality prevails; at least for the individuals with modest pays. Corruption within the society also simply increases unfavorable and unequal treatments for individuals on different societal levels.
These articles can be considered as white papers.

They are intended at providing their readers with information and suggestions about the aspects of their lives. In this case, it provides readers with information on the interaction between the market values and norms and the social values and norms. The two articles by Sandel and Ariely in some ways share views. One of such common elements is the fact that there is a difference between market norms and social norms. Market norms should be left to the markets, the processes entailed in buying and selling of commodities. However, social norms are also existent. These on the contrary are meant to guide the social aspects human livelihood. Social norms should pretty much guide the human interactions and associations within society. Additionally, the two articles believe that social norms and values should be kept distinct and separate from market values and norms. The two aspects of life should not be given reason for

interaction.