We live in a time where almost anything and everything can be bought and sold. A few decades ago, selling referred mostly referred to the buying and selling of material goods. Today, it can be argued that the logic of selling has come to dominate and govern the whole of life.
In a society where such a phenomenon occurs, buying and selling has come to be a natural result of the change with markets and market thinking within the past three decades. Market values began to play a greater and greater role in social life, while economics was becoming an imperial domain. Beginning in the 1980’s under Ronald Reagan’s direction, a new era of “market triumphalism” was emerging and proclaimed that markets, rather than government, held the key to prosperity and freedom. This new way of thinking set the stage for what would later lead to the abundance of buying and selling.
After the financial crisis in 2008, the idea of “market triumphalism” has lost faith by some. Even so, it can be agreed that the most fateful change that occurred within the past three decades was the reach of markets and market values into spheres of life that had traditionally been governed by non-market norms. Because of this, we are moving closer and closer to a society where everything is being put up for sale. As everyone becomes a “salesman” in one way or another, we as a society should be hesitant and consider two negative outcomes that could occur: inequality and corruption. In the transition from a market economy to a market society, we as “sellers and buyers” must establish a balance between using the market economy as a tool to buy and sell goods and services, and letting it become a way of life that seeps into our society as a whole.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/what-isnt-for-sale/308902/
BoweryJE22
It is fascinating how much sales is a part of our everyday life.