Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness [Hardcover]

James Arnt Aune (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572305983 | ISBN-13: 978-1572305984 | Publication Date: November 3, 2000 | Edition: 1

While accusations of "political correctness" are frequently raised against liberals, there has been suprisingly little discussion of how conservatives foment the use of their own "economically correct" language. In this engaging book, James Arnt Aune examines how the rhetoric of the free market has become the everyday language of American political debate. Outlining the key ideas of free-market economics, Aune shows how they have permeated political decisions around such issues as labor unions, farm subsidies, and the minimum wage. He also illuminates the paradoxes and irrationalities of these ideas, using rhetorical theory as an analytical tool. The book reveals the inherent contradictions between economic libertarianism, nationalist principles, and social conservatism in the positions of such influential right-wing politicians as Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and Patrick Buchanan. It also provides lively and critical readings of important free-market and liberation writings by Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Murray. Vividly demonstrating the destructive impact of "economic correctness" on the lives of working people and families, this book ably refutes both the language and the logic of the market revolution.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Aune, an academic, sets out to "explain the way in which technical economic rhetoric has been allowed to trump the moral and cultural meanings of community, nature, work, and the market." The author, identifying himself as an old-fashioned socialist, investigates the strategies used to promote the emergence of the global free market since 1989 and explains what he considers the destructive impact that free-market economics has on the American character and community, citing labor organizing and family farms. His conclusions include the notion that communication cannot be reduced to the exchange of information without radically limiting the possibilities for humans to flourish, not just economically but also socially, culturally, and in every other way--and all free marketers end up with elements of irrationality in their systems. He also contends that the convergence of the ideologies of information and of the market has been facilitated by the globalization of capitalism, the collapse of socialism, and the rise of the Internet. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The book is unique; a reasoned criticism from the left of the rhetoric of the free market...It is a beautifully written attack on free-market ideology using the resources of classical and modern rhetoric...It's a masterful work." --Deirdre McCloskey, author of The Rhetoric of Economics, University of Iowa

"This book offers a penetrating and provocative look at today's market, how it is understood, and how it is being promoted in most every sector of society. In particular, Aune's analysis helps us to get beyond the taken-for-grantedness of the market, looking behind the slogans to reveal how what is often assumed to be 'natural' or 'inevitable' actually involves a hard sell. Aune moves deftly from principles of rhetoric to key ideas in economics to show how the market has become the most common way of expressing who we are and what we do in the contemporary United States." --George Cheney, Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana-Missoula; author of Values at Work

"This book offers a carefully articulated treatment of what is perhaps the most important discourse of our time: the academic rhetoric underlying Reaganist, Thatcherist, and neoliberal economic theories. Aune's incisive analysis will be invaluable reading for anyone who is interested in the relationships between organizational action and sociopolitical structures/m-/or who is concerned about the widespread and uncritical acceptance of what George Soros has called free-market fundamentalism."/m-/Charles Conrad, Texas A&M University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (November 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572305983
• ISBN-13: 978-1572305984
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,315,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Rhetoric of Attacking "Free Market Rhetoric", December 14, 2003

By 

Roger I. Roots "Roger Roots" (Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness (Hardcover)

I must confess that I checked out this book from a library only to skim it for a few quotes to cite in a paper I was writing. I wound up spending an entire day reading the book cover to cover. For this reason alone, I recommend it, although I disagree completely with its central thesis.
Aune is a very rare commodity among leftist anti-capitalists: he is well versed in the writings of free-market proponents. Additionally, he is a very good writer, and Selling the Free Market is well written. His summaries of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged as well as some of the writings of Nozick, Rothbard, Murray, etc. are as clear as any I've read.
Aune is simply wrong on a few points that are not important to the overall discussion, however. For example, he claims that free market reforms have been "remarkably unsuccessful," pointing to slow economic growth and increasing income inequality (p. 1). Of course many sources reveal that this analysis is just plain incorrect. Read Norberg's In Defense of Global Capitalism (2003) or Sowell's Basic Economics (2000), for example.
Also, Aune attacks Charles Murray's claim that the Civil Rights Acts were unnecessary because (as Murray states) socio/economic progress for racial minorities would have occured in the free market anyway. Aune claims that Murray "provides no proof for this assertion" (p. 114). In fact Murray's book cites trendlines that show Blacks' economic fortunes were rising even before the Civil Rights Movement (Murray 1997, p. 51).
I could go on about Aune's errors but I believe that the overall strength of Aune's book is its overview of the free market movement--such as it is a movement. Certainly, Aune's factual errors are believed and repeated by countless other so-called liberal intellectuals. I rate this book 4 stars for readability. I really do recommend it be read.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Filling an important void, February 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness (Hardcover)

Aune's book is an important and timely addition to the debates concerning American public philosophy, specifically regarding the appropriate role of government and markets in the coming global world. The work helps explain (and certainly question) the recent glorifications of markets as social cure-alls, as well as the conservative turn to the scapegoating of government after the boogey-man of communism fell away. Turning conservatism upon itself, Aune ably exposes the contradictions between and within the libertarian and cultural wings of conservatism through a focus on the writings of philosophers such as Rand, Nozick, and Murray as well as politicians such as Reagan, Buchanan, and Gingrich. I feel that through his exposition of the subtle rhetorical strategies of "economic correctness," Aune succeeded in his goal of providing his readers with the necessary equipment to counter the arguments of the free marketers. The book should clearly be read by scholars and advocates interested in rhetoric, economics, and contemporary political philosophy. In addition, due to Aune's readable style and his use of humor, the book is also accessible and worthwhile to broader audiences interested in such issues. Here is at least one reader who hopes that Aune's term "economic correctness" receives broad use in American political discourse.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Libertarians are the plague, February 21, 2001

By 

Jennifer (University Park, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness (Hardcover)

I see libertarians are really trashing this book. The author is no ivory tower Marxist. He has good things to say about traditional conservatives like Russell Kirk who actually believe in tradition, stable communities, and values beyond the dollar sign. It's a good read, too.