by Brendan Sheehan
Paper Presented to the European Sociological Association Conference in Geneva 7th to 10th September 2011
This paper builds upon the audacious insights of J.K. Galbraith (1972; 1998) with respect to managed markets and the... more
This paper builds upon the audacious insights of J.K. Galbraith (1972; 1998) with respect to managed markets and the management of specific demand. The paper begins by dividing the global economy into three identifiable, though inter-connected sub-systems – the systems of scarcity, sufficiency and abundance. The dominant threat to the system of abundance is under-consumption by the people of plenty; the institution of marketing spontaneously emerges to counter this threat (Sheehan, 2010). Next the paper sets out Galbraith’s analysis of managed markets, which is applicable to the system of abundance. Galbraith’s approach marks a distinct break with the idea of the invisible hand; though his analysis has it has some important limitations. Finally, the paper introduces Sheehan’s new concept of corporate-guided markets for branded products. This is the general market form in the system of abundance. The concept of a corporate-guided market seeks to refine and develop Galbraith’s analysis; most importantly it fully incorporates the role played by the institution of marketing. Put another way, the insights contained in this paper are the result of standing on the shoulders of an economic giant – J.K. Galbraith.
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