Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

198 What To Make of Itrial—that is, not physical objects. They are sought states ofmind, like feelings of security and satisfaction, includingsuch pleasures as friendship and adventure. Food—is it notmaterial? Yes, but its material qualities, weight, volume, orsolidity, are not what we want. We want such nonmaterialintangibles as satiation, taste, and novelty. Clothing? Wedress to conform and to display. But do not the states ofmind we pursue require physical objects? Yes, as does all oflife. But they also require services more than they requirematerial objects. An avaricious market participant will pursuephysical objects less avidly than medical, legal, and financialservices, bank accounts, and rights to income andwealth in the form of stocks and bonds. In the pursuit of ourobjectives we make use of things, services, ideas, and decisions;material objects are only one category.That the market system pushes participants towardmaterialism is usually a clumsy way to say either that itpushes them toward the pursuit of money or toward acquiringthose performances and things that money can buy.That is an allegation that cannot be dismissed. It suggestsan excessively commercial and therefore corrupt culture.The great instrument for interaction in market societyis money. Who can deny that in market systems people revolvearound it? The question is what to make of our centralpursuit of money income. Money is on some counts agreat liberator, opening up vast choices; spending is theroute to any among an extraordinarily wide array of ends.Money is of course limited in its capacity to allow people towin friends, find inner peace, or achieve immortality. Yetpeople spend money even for these purposes. They make acontribution to their college in exchange for a name on abuilding; and some people have even tried to arrange to be