The Wound and the Blessing

The crisis that market societies are undergoing is essentially a crisis of relationships. It originates in the illusion that the market through the actions of an “invisible hand” operating in impersonal market relationships can present us a good common life exempt from the possibility of being wounded by the other.
Luigino Bruni offers an authoritative look at the premises underlying contemporary market economies and their premises. He points out the need for balancing the increasing tendency toward isolation with the human need for relationships and he proposes a means of maximizing the benefits of the market without losing the joy that comes from putting the relationship with the others in the market as the primary good.