Explaining the City Belief in Markets

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt at a tentative explanation of the strong commitment of City people to the market. The argument developed is that the influence of social class, although relevant and important, is not alone sufficient to explain the City belief in markets because City people from modest backgrounds do not seem significantly less pro-market than those from the more privileged backgrounds. Attention must also be paid to the following: beliefs about the market held by recruits prior to entry into the city; the effect of working in financial markets; and the ideologically closed character of City culture. Each of these factors plays a crucial role in constituting and reinforcing socio-political opinions, including views about the proper relationship between state and market.KeywordsSocial ClassFinancial MarketCity LifeSocial Class BackgroundPrivileged BackgroundThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.