The Market As G-D Analysis

Harvey Cox’s work The Market as G-d is an analysis of “The Market” and religion—exploring their shared natures and functions as forces within the lived human experience. Cox (in all but name) dissects the structure of a neoliberal economy to discover that the notion of “Free Market” moves and speaks much like that of religion. As Cox explores the relationship between “The Market” and religion within the paradigm of neoliberalism, one witnesses how a neoliberal economy elevates and enthrones the ethos of radical capitalism within the structure of the global economy. It is in the elevation of radical capitalism that “The Market” takes on the language and ideals of divine worship—absolute deity and complex (evolving) faith structure. This “Market …show more content…
Cox within this second turn examines how this G-d of the “Free Market” establishes and defines a theological and ethical framework for its believers. If this concept of “Free Market” is being understood in the same light as the Divine, then it must also be accompanied by a set of ideological principles that seek to govern society through the work its believers. This turn is identical to the movement of religious believers as they seek to further their religious institution or spiritual ethos. The image that Cox uses to display the theology of “the Market” is High Church doctrine of transubstantiation during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Cox …show more content…
This “desacralization” is not simply limited to the relationship between humans and nature, but also encompasses the relationship that humans share with each other in the scope of Divine creation. It is in this “High Mass” of the Market, the body and humanity of other people (and to an extent even ourselves) is transubstantiated into commodity. Just as Roman Catholics (and other members of the “High Church” experience) believe that “the Lord” is manifested through the act of the celebration of the Mass, the “Mass of the Market” elevates and manifest the G-d of “the Market” into the lived experience of humanity. This “Mass of the Market” consequently devalues, disregards, and disrespects the life of the “stranger and neighbor.” And in doing so, intentionally undercutting any “theology” that is counter to the disease of commodification. Thus, reflecting the absolute devotion that the G-d of the “Market” demands of its followers—sanctifying (through commodification) the creation of the paradigm of marginalization—endangering the life and shared humanity of the entire human