Markets and society

In face of the strong conflict between market norms and social norms,peaceful co-existence is impossible. in traditional societies,markets were subordinated to society. modern society emerged via a number of revolutions which made society subordinate to markets. this led to a reversal of traditional values of social cooperation and harmony with nature. instead,men,nature,society became objects to be exploited for creating profits. a market society generates profits by exploiting men and nature,and requires increasing profits to sustain itself. this process has run into its limits as planetary resources are being destroyed on a scale large enough to threaten the planet. saving the planet requires reversing the transition to modernity by subordinating markets to society. this is a difficult task. © 2016 pakistan institute of development economics.