Being Seen : How Markets Impact Our Moral Sentiments

Markets expose us to other people, yet there are many ways to be seen. Market exposure may expand the scope of our moral sympathies causing us to view other people as moral equals. Alternatively, commodification and alienation may prevent us from recognizing the moral status of others. We use text analysis on a corpus of New York Times articles from 1987-2007 to show how market interactions impact our moral sentiments. We find robust evidence in support of the Smithian hypothesis that market exposure expands the scope of our moral sympathies and against the Marxian hypothesis that market exposure reduces our moral perception of others