Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

Persuading the Masses 221also might they curb the sales-promotion and public-relationsindustries. Many nations now control sales promotionfor some products: for example, drugs or stocks andbonds. I make this point not to advocate such a policy herebut simply to point out that the two industries are not intheir present form an inherent requirement of a market system.In principle, a market system can operate across a vastarray of social interactions without either a market, say, inchildren or without a market like the present market in persuasivemessages from elites. Market systems need a widedistribution of information, and that in turn imposes somelimits on state supervision of that distribution. But that isnot to say that the present form of the industry is essentialto the market system. Assuming no nibbling at free speech,the key to curbs, if desirable, on sales promotion and publicrelations is a distinction between the rights of individualpersons and the prerogatives of organizations, a distinctiondrawn in Chapter 13.Political CircularityFinding an assault on the mind but not circularity in themarket system, we may have been looking in the wrongplace for circularity. Perhaps it is to be looked for less inthe market system, where market elites contest with oneanother, than in democratic politics on issues on whichmarket and political elites join in trying to control their ostensiblecontrollers. A visible and audible feature of elitecommunication to mass is agreement between market andpolitical elites on some of their messages. They do not joinin promoting sales of kitchen appliances, but they do join indefense of the established social order. And where the assaultthrough sales promotion often leaves the consumer