A History of the Idea 'Moral Economy': Markets, Conventions and the Philosophy of Popular Entitlement

Abstract

'Moral economy' has enjoyed a great deal of attention within the social sciences. From disciplines as diverse as psychology, economics, philosophy, politics and anthropology, the term 'moral economy' has provided social scientists with great flexibility in approaching the many subjects of their inquiry. Within the contemporary spread of literature the term 'moral economy' has been used to demonstrate strong philosophical opposition to neo-classical economics. In particular, moral economy has come to denote the absence of explicit ethical considerations and assumptions within the study of economics, and economic life more generally. One notable feature of contemporary debates on moral economy has been the failure to recognize the contributions of social historians in this area. The seminal work of E.P Thompson, above all, has been overlooked in such revisions. It is argued here that Thompson's key contribution in this field has been to illustrate both the historical context of 'moral economy' as an idea and how that idea reflected themes of 'custom' and 'popular entitlement' in relation to the proper regulation of markets and commercial activity. Over a millennium and across a spectrum that includes prominent theologians, literary figures and playwrights, popular Christian allegorists, philosophers of property rights, revolutionaries, nineteenth century poets and philanthropists, thinkers maintained that the economy always had, and indeed should always have, a moral foundation. Based on these core themes this thesis will demonstrate the durability of what Thompson and others have called 'moral economy'; a conception of 'economy' built on the foundations of popular entitlement and right, and its exemplification in economic virtues of fairness and cooperation. As we shall see throughout the course of this thesis, the idea of 'moral economy' is by no-means a recent notion. In pursuing the history of the idea 'moral economy' we will recover from the history of economic thought a sample of key thinkers that were until now thought to exist in several disparate traditions of their own. Attempts at rethinking the intellectual basis of a revised moral economy framework would be well served by taking stock of the term's history, and for those concerned with using 'moral economy' to counter the ethical claims of neo-classical economics, the thinkers examined in this thesis provide both a necessary and illuminating starting point.