Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

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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
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"...Aune targets the free-market commanders with elegant precision." --The Washington Monthly -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: The 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 (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,951,705 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 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)

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

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a thought-provoking though controversial read, November 10, 2004

By	pineguy (Flagstaff, AZ) - See all my reviews

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

Aune, a professor of speech communication at Texas A&M University, has produced a highly readable though controversial volume about the nature of free-market rhetoric. Libertarians and economic conservatives will likely be offended by Aune's conclusions, though that is precisely his point.

Aune proceeds to systematically deconstruct libertarian economic thought and political discourse, exposing the faulty argumentative strategies of libertarians like Ayn Rand and Robert Nozick, as well as the discourse of more mainstream conservatives.