Contested Commodities

Radin's book is both complex in structure and highly nuanced in argument. Essentially it is a critique of existing theories of commodification that develops a distinctive approach to understanding commodification...Radin, like liberal political theorists, seeks a middle way between universalized commodification and universalized noncommodification, instead of a thesis of compartmentalized commodification she offers a thesis of 'incomplete commodification'...[An] insightful and rewarding book. -- Deryck Beyleveld Journal of Law and Society In this thought-provoking book Margaret Jane Radin asks us to consider whether there are some areas of social life which should be off-limits to the market, and whether some human interactions should be exempted from market-style forms of description and analysis. Although Radin is not the first theorist to address these issues, her eloquently written book contains some of the most sophisticated treatment they have received thus far. She convincingly makes the point that unless we transcend those models of human behaviour which characterize all human interactions as market exchanges, we may find ourselves unable to engage in the forms of valuing required for the maintenance and promotion of a humane society...The book represents a significant contribution to debate about the role of markets and market ideology in modern democratic polities. Future discussions of these issues will undoubtedly be influenced by Radin's work. -- A. J. Walsh Philosophical Quarterly Margaret Radin asks, why not put everything up for sale? Her answer is that doing so would impair human flourishing by compromising the social contexts needed for personhood. She offers a general approach to determining the ethical limits of markets and shows how it works in cases ranging from organ sales, prostitution, and commercial surrogate motherhood to the 'free marketplace of ideas,' compensation in torts, and public choice theories of democracy. Radin's contributions to this controversy are consistently illuminating and through provoking...For anyone interested in the ethical limitations of markets, this book is required reading. -- Elizabeth Anderson Ethics