Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Libertarianism and Market Critique - Coggle Diagram
Libertarianism and Market Critique
Libertarianism
favors unfettered markets and opposes government regulation ❌
still supports laws that affect minimum wage and work place safety, however, still asking for limited government
An argument against this free market is the idea that taxation may discourage workers and market efficiency may be inaccurate leading to inefficiency
human freedom: the right to do whatever we want with the things we own; respect others to do the same 🆓
Challenges of human freedom come from absolute property rights. Absolute property rights may need to moral dilemnas when someone prioritizes their wealth over someones needs
minimal contracts are okay (to protect people's property and peace)📝
"minimal state" only allows functions like enforcing contracts, protecting private property from theft, and maintaining peace :check:
Could be critiqued as this approach assumes everyone has equal power, where as, in reality, this can lead to exploitative contracts through economic disparities :red_cross:
rejects 3 types of policies/laws:
no paternalism
Ex. we don't need seatbelt and motorcycle helmet laws because that is dictating the risks people take with their bodies/lives
no morals legislation
Ex. some people may disapprove of homosexuality, but that doesn't justify laws to be set on restricting this
no redistribution of wealth 💸
Ex. distributive taxes are a form of theft
Critiques on the Free Market
Market choices aren't as free as it claims to be.
Ex. the U.S. military operates on a "volunteer" basis.
The choice to enlist may be a reflection of the lack of alternatives in the market.
The military offers benefits that are appealing, especially to people from impoverished.
"Young people from low- to middle-income neighborhoods are disproportionately represented in the ranks of active-duty army recruits" (p.82)
Rousseau: commodifying civic duty undermines freedom
"No society is perfectly equal. So the risk of coercion always hovers over the choices people make in the labor market" (p. 84)
Baby M
A couple seeking a surrogate got into a conflict with the birth mother as the surrogate took the baby... breach of contract
Main objections: questionable consent and should pregnancies even be commodified in the first place?
Main point: the commodification of people (more specifically, their bodies) brings up the question: how free are the choices we make in the supposedly free market?
Rousseau’s Critique of Market Values
Civic Virtue Undermined:
Rousseau argues that commodifying civic duties weakens freedom by detaching people from social commitments.
Example: Paying people to perform civic duties (e.g., military service) may erode a sense of shared responsibility.
Markets prioritize self-interest over civic duty and collective responsibility.
Freedom and Equality:
True freedom requires conditions where all citizens can engage in civic life as equals.
Market inequalities can create classes of people who are excluded from this participation.
Example: Wealthier individuals can buy their way out of civic obligations, such as military service or jury duty.
When Markets Corrupt Values
Some goods (e.g., education, national security) have intrinsic value that markets fail to honor.
Commodification reduces these goods to mere transactions.