Market ideology’s appeal rests on a metaphysical equation of markets with human nature itself

Evidence

The reasons for the success of market ideology can therefore not be sought in the market itself (even when you have sorted out exactly which of these many phenomena is being designated by the word). But it is best to begin with the strongest and most comprehensive metaphysical version, which associates the market with human nature. This view comes in many, often imperceptible, forms, but it has been conveniently formalized into a whole method by Gary Becker in his admirably totalizing approach: “I am saying that the economic approach provides a valuable unified framework for understanding all human behavior.” Thus, for example, marriage is susceptible to a kind of market analysis: “My analysis implies that likes or unlikes mate when that maximizes total household commodity output over all marriages, regardless of whether the trait is financial (like wage rates and property income), or genetical (like height and intelligence), or psychological (like aggressiveness and passiveness).” But here the clarifying footnote is crucial and marks a beginning toward grasping what is really at stake in Becker’s interesting proposal: “Let me emphasize again that commodity output is not the same as national product as usually measured, but includes children, companionship, health, and a variety of other commodities.” What immediately leaps to the eye, therefore, is the paradox — of the greatest symptomatic significance for the Marxian theoretical tourist — that this most scandalous of all market models is in reality a production model! In it consumption is explicitly described as the production of a commodity or a specific utility; in other words, a use value which can be anything from sexual gratification to a convenient place to take it out on your children if the outside world proves inclement. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 587

Categorization

• DEFINE: Identifies the strongest version of market ideology: the metaphysical claim that market behavior IS human nature, formalized by Gary Becker.
• XREF: Becker’s totalizing economic approach and household production functions connect to the reader’s existing work on pre-state trade institutions and the law merchant, where rational-choice and reputation models are central. — connects to: The efficient markets hypothesis is politically prescriptive, declaring markets the only legitimate organizing principle — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 128; Anti-rationalist epistemology links respect for tradition with market advocacy — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 284; Markets are human creations amenable to redesign, not natural forces — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1237 (+3 more)