I’m going to a talk today by Victor Pérez-Diaz called “Markets as Conversations.” It’s being held at Harvard’s Center for European Studies, 12:15-2pm in the Cabot Room at 27 Kirkland Street in Cambridge. The paper of the same name is about how markets influence politics, culture and society. Looks fascinating and I’m sorry I’ll have to leave early for a chat.

From the author’s summary:

The points I intend to make here are, basically, three: (a) that markets should be
understood, in an ideal-typical manner, as part of a general social order which I refer to
by the ancient expression ‘civil society’ (CS); (b) that markets reinforce that order by
shaping and influencing culture, politics and society so that they proceed, or function,
in a civil manner; and (c) that we may get a better grasp of the way markets act and
achieve this effect by developing an understanding of markets as conversations.

…

I develop a view of markets as conversations, that is, as a system of communication (mostly, but not entirely,
by non-linguistic means) which works as an educational mechanism shaping people’s
habits. In turn, these habits may help them to develop a complex of capacities and
dispositions, of civil and civic virtues, which we can bracket together under the rubric
of ‘civility’.

The paper has nothing to do with the Internet and does not mention Cluetrain or Doc. Nevertheless, I’m bringing Prof. Pérez-Diaz a copy of the book ;) [Tags: cluetrain victor_perez-diaz markets philosophy habermas]

Categories: Uncategorized dw