Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309325 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Citation: 
[Journal:] Finance and Society [ISSN:] 2059-5999 [Volume:] 2 [Issue:] 1 [Year:] 2016 [Pages:] 62-85
Publisher: 
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Abstract: 
This article develops a pragmatic theory of finance in which markets are considered to be centres of communicative action in the face of uncertainty. This contrasts with the conventional approach that portrays markets as centres of strategic action in the face of scarcity. The argument follows Habermas and entails that a financial market must address the truthfulness, truth, and rightness of the statements made by its participants (i.e., the prices quoted). I claim that these discursive norms have been implicit in historical financial markets as expressed in the norms of sincerity, reciprocity, and charity. I conclude by proposing that 'trust' in commerce is a synthesis of the three discursive norms. The motivation of the article is to address the crisis of legitimacy that the financial system is experiencing, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).
Subjects: 
Communicative action
markets
ethics
credit
trust
financialisation
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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