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What Are Markets For?
Series: What Is It For?
Brief Description
A new perspective on the role of the market, and its future place in society. Markets are apparently straightforward: they connect buyers to sellers. But their operation is complex, depending on places, things, networks, and performances. Belief in markets is a cultural and political ideology. They...
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What Are Markets For?
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Description
A new perspective on the role of the market, and its future place in society.
Markets are apparently straightforward: they connect buyers to sellers. But their operation is complex, depending on places, things, networks, and performances. Belief in markets is a cultural and political ideology. They are a means of governance in modern society, linked to individualistic self-responsibility.
But markets also have a darker side. Not everything should be for sale. Markets wield political power; they benefit those who already have resources; they impair collective action; they can be exploitative. As well as asking what markets are for, this book asks who they are for and what needs to change if they are to enable us to thrive in the 21st century.
Series: What Is It For?
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What Are Zoos For?
Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era 'spectacles' and 'attractions' that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal campaigners and activists who believe so. Heather Browning and Walter Veit disagree, but they...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Drug Policy For?
There is general agreement about the need to criminalise the production, sale, and possession of certain drugs, yet the costly international apparatus surrounding this is failing. But why do we criminalise some substances and not others? Is the purpose misguided, or the methods, or both? Julia Buxton looks at how our current drug control regime came about from the first...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Truth For?
Truth is for striving at, for the sake of good collective action. With new media technologies, it seems that falsehoods can spread faster and further than ever. And with new norms of public discourse, while being caught in a lie would once end a politician's career, today it is shrugged off, which has profound implications for democracy. Does the truth...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Veganism For?
Across the world, an increasing number of people are turning to veganism, changing not just their diets, but completely removing animal products from their lives. For some, this is prompted by concerns over animal ethics; for others, it's a response to the part played by animal agriculture in the climate crisis or an attempt to improve their own health. What...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Cybersecurity For?
How will protecting our digital infrastructure shape our future? Cybersecurity is one of the key practical and political challenges of our time. It is at the heart of how modern societies survive and thrive, yet public understanding is still rudimentary: media portrayals of hoodie-wearing hackers accessing the Pentagon don't convey its complexity or significance to contemporary life. What Is Cybersecurity...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is History For?
History, suggests Robert Gildea, "is a battlefield." Questions of power, rights, identity, and nationhood always have an ancient and modern historical dimension, and countries still go to war over their interpretation of history. Yet accounts of history are just as prone to fabrication as fake news, so how can we tell good history from bad? How can history be critical,...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Humanism For?
Religious belief is declining in many parts of the world, yet people still seek purpose in their lives and guidance on how to navigate life's challenges. Humanism is a broad tradition of thought and action that encourages thinking for oneself about what to believe and accommodating diversity. What is the purpose of humanism in an increasingly secular world? Written by...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is the Welfare State For?
Most states in the world make some provision for the welfare of their citizens. Every state engages with health care provision, almost all provide education services, and, after an explosion of interest in recent years, a substantial majority now have national schemes in place for cash assistance. Welfare states matter for people's lives – but there is little agreement about...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is Journalism For?
What is at stake when journalism is threatened? Does society still need journalists? Journalism faces multiple threats today all over the world: economic decline, online disinformation, the rise of AI, authoritarian curbs on freedom of the press, and violence against journalists. In such a climate, it is more urgent than ever to ask what journalism is for. Drawing on his...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Is the Monarchy For?
Does the British monarchy still have a place in today's society? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit cast light on institutional racism, Prince Andrew's alleged sexual abuse highlighted troubling attitudes towards gender and power, while the abolition of the monarchy in Barbados accentuated its relationship to colonialism. But what is the monarchy actually for? Does it benefit the UK, or...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Are Animal Rights For?
How should we treat animals? The long-held belief that other animals exist solely for human use has undergone radical challenge in the past half century. How much further do we need to go to minimise, and even eliminate, animal suffering? The field of animal rights raises big questions about how humans treat the other animals with which we share the...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
What Are Museums For?
The days when museums were dusty, stuffy institutions displaying their wealth and wisdom to a reverential public are over. Museums today are a cultural battleground. Who should decide what is put on display and how it is presented? Who gets to set the narrative? In this passionately argued book, Jon Sleigh maintains that museums must be for all people and...Paperback$2199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529244175
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 30 June 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Bristol University Press
Illustration: 11 Illustrations, black and white
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 127.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 178
About the Author
Philip Roscoe is Professor in Management at the University of St Andrews. His research takes a sociological approach to markets and finance. A former journalist, he was one of the first BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers. His previous book, How to Build a Stock Exchange, was published by Bristol University Press in 2023.
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