Market anarchism

Graffiti reading "Free-market anti-capitalist" — Free-market anti-capitalist mural in Queens

Market anarchism^[1] is the branch of anarchism that advocates a free-market economic system based on voluntary interactions without the involvement of the state; a form of individualist anarchism.^[2]^[3]

Due to contending definitions of the terms 'markets' and 'capitalism' which are not used by free-market anti-capitalists,^[4]^[5]^[6] anarcho-capitalism has been referred to synonymously as "free-market anarchism," but the ideologies differ significantly.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] The Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS), which Kevin Carson is associated with, is one such group of free-marked anti-capitalists.^[11] As is Samuel Edward Konkin III's agorism, a tendency associated with left-libertarianism.^[12]

Some writers, such as Iain McKay, have been skeptical of this conceptual nomenclature on the grounds that it still leads to misunderstandings about its similarity to anarcho-capitalists.^[13]^[14]

References

^ Long, Roderick T. (January 1, 2012). "Left-Libertarianism, Market Anarchism, Class Conflict and Historical Theories of Distributive Justice". Griffith Law Review. 21 (2): 413–431. doi:10.1080/10383441.2012.10854747. S2CID 143550988 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
^ Chartier, Gary; Johnson, Charles W. (2011). Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty. Brooklyn: Minor Compositions/Autonomedia.
^ Carson, Kevin A. "Introduction". Mutualist.org. Archived from the original on 2025-06-04. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
^ Chartier, Gary. Johnson, Charles H. Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty. Brooklyn: Minor Compositions/Autonomedia. pp 60-61. “In order to get clear on the topic in a conversation about ‘Free Market Anticapitalism,’ the obvious points where clarification may be needed are going to be the meaning of capitalism, the meaning of markets, and the meaning of freedom in the market context… market anarchists have spent a lot of time…the possibility of disentangling multiple senses of ‘capitalism’…The meaning of the term is obviously central to any free market economics…Pro-capitalist economists have often suggested such a broad understanding of ‘markets’ even if they have not fully understood…its implications. For example Murray Rothbard….”
^ Zwolinski, Matt (9 January 2013). "Markets Not Capitalism". FEE.org. Foundation for Economic Education. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
^ Kabaservice, Geoff (17 April 2025). "The old, weird history of libertarianism, with Matt Zwolinski". Niskanen Center. Archived from the original on 17 June 2025. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
^ Carrier, James G. (1997). Meanings of the Market: The Free Market in Western Culture (1 ed.). Oxford: Berg. p. 107. ISBN 1-85973-149-X.
^ Miller, G. Tyler; Paul, Ellen Frankel; Miller Jr., Fred D., eds. (1993). Liberalism and the Economic Order, Part 2. p. 115.
^ Long, Roderick T.; Machan, Tibor R. (2016) [2008]. Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?. Ashgate.
^ Hoffman, John; Graham, Paul (2006). Introduction to Political Theory. p. 243.
^ Jun, Nathan J. (2017-09-25). Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy. BRILL. p. 308. ISBN 978-90-04-35689-4.
^ "Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. (2012). The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy. p. 227. "Later [left-libertarianism] became a term for the left or Konkinite wing of the free-market libertarian movement, and has since come to cover a range of pro-market but anti-capitalist positions, mostly individualist anarchist, including agorism and mutualism, often with an implication of sympathies (such as for radical feminism or the labor movement) not usually shared by anarcho-capitalists."
^ Mckay, Iain (2008). "Capitalism Does Not Equal the Market". Anarchist Writers. Archived from the original on 26 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025. It would be tempting to call such a system of market co-operatives "market anarchism" in the same way that Schweickart's calls his similar system market socialism, but that would be unwise. This is because "anarcho"-capitalists have appropriated that term in a rebranding exercise for their own ideology. (...) Best, I think, to call it mutualism, as Proudhon did — that would make it extremely difficult for the propertarian right to appropriate it.
^ McKay, Iain (1 May 2025). "An Anarchist FAQ version 15.7 released". An Anarchist FAQ. Archived from the original on 24 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025. some have starting using the term "market anarchism" to describe Individualist Anarchism and mutualism. This can be considered as an equivalent of "market socialism" but the problem is that the term can be used by "anarcho"-capitalists in yet another attempt to smuggle their authoritarian ideology into anarchist circles.

Bibliography

Carson, Kevin (2017). "Anarchism and Markets". In Jun, Nathan (ed.). Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy. Leiden: Brill. pp. 81–119. doi:10.1163/9789004356894_005. ISBN 978-90-04-35689-4.
Chartier, Gary (2014). "Market Democracy, Market Anarchy, and Global Justice". Radicalizing Rawls. Philosophy, Public Policy, and Transnational Law. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 121–149. doi:10.1057/9781137382979_6. ISBN 9781137382979.
Long, Roderick T. (2008). "Market Anarchism as Constitutionalism". In Long, Roderick T.; Machan, Tibor R. (eds.). Anarchism/Minarchism. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315566955-11 (inactive 1 July 2025). ISBN 9781315566955.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
Long, Roderick T. (2012). "Left-Libertarianism, Market Anarchism, Class Conflict and Historical Theories of Distributive Justice". Griffith Law Review. 21 (2): 413–431. doi:10.1080/10383441.2012.10854747.
Long, Roderick T. (2017). "Anarchism and Libertarianism". In Jun, Nathan (ed.). Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy. Leiden: Brill. pp. 285–317. doi:10.1163/9789004356894_012. ISBN 978-90-04-35689-4.
Long, Roderick T. (2020). "The Anarchist Landscape". In Chartier, Gary; Van Schoelandt, Chad (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Anarchy and Anarchist Thought. New York: Routledge. pp. 28–38. doi:10.4324/9781315185255-2. ISBN 9781315185255. S2CID 228898569.
Long, Roderick T. (2022). "Anarchism". In Zwolinski, Matt; Ferguson, Benjamin (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Libertarianism. Routledge. pp. 181–203. doi:10.4324/9780367814243-16. ISBN 9780367814243.
Vest, J. Martin (2020). "Barbarians in the Agora: American Market Anarchism, 1945–2011". In Chartier, Gary; Van Schoelandt, Chad (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Anarchy and Anarchist Thought. New York: Routledge. pp. 112–125. doi:10.4324/9781315185255-8. ISBN 9781315185255. S2CID 228898569.

External links

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[1] Long, Roderick T. (January 1, 2012). "Left-Libertarianism, Market Anarchism, Class Conflict and Historical Theories of Distributive Justice". Griffith Law Review. 21 (2): 413–431. doi:10.1080/10383441.2012.10854747. S2CID 143550988 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.

[2] Chartier, Gary; Johnson, Charles W. (2011). Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty. Brooklyn: Minor Compositions/Autonomedia.

[3] Carson, Kevin A. "Introduction". Mutualist.org. Archived from the original on 2025-06-04. Retrieved 2025-06-11.

[4] Chartier, Gary. Johnson, Charles H. Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty. Brooklyn: Minor Compositions/Autonomedia. pp 60-61. “In order to get clear on the topic in a conversation about ‘Free Market Anticapitalism,’ the obvious points where clarification may be needed are going to be the meaning of capitalism, the meaning of markets, and the meaning of freedom in the market context… market anarchists have spent a lot of time…the possibility of disentangling multiple senses of ‘capitalism’…The meaning of the term is obviously central to any free market economics…Pro-capitalist economists have often suggested such a broad understanding of ‘markets’ even if they have not fully understood…its implications. For example Murray Rothbard….”

[5] Zwolinski, Matt (9 January 2013). "Markets Not Capitalism". FEE.org. Foundation for Economic Education. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2025.

[6] Kabaservice, Geoff (17 April 2025). "The old, weird history of libertarianism, with Matt Zwolinski". Niskanen Center. Archived from the original on 17 June 2025. Retrieved 13 July 2025.

[7] Carrier, James G. (1997). Meanings of the Market: The Free Market in Western Culture (1 ed.). Oxford: Berg. p. 107. ISBN 1-85973-149-X.

[8] Miller, G. Tyler; Paul, Ellen Frankel; Miller Jr., Fred D., eds. (1993). Liberalism and the Economic Order, Part 2. p. 115.

[9] Long, Roderick T.; Machan, Tibor R. (2016) [2008]. Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?. Ashgate.

[10] Hoffman, John; Graham, Paul (2006). Introduction to Political Theory. p. 243.

[11] Jun, Nathan J. (2017-09-25). Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy. BRILL. p. 308. ISBN 978-90-04-35689-4.

[12] "Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. (2012). The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy. p. 227. "Later [left-libertarianism] became a term for the left or Konkinite wing of the free-market libertarian movement, and has since come to cover a range of pro-market but anti-capitalist positions, mostly individualist anarchist, including agorism and mutualism, often with an implication of sympathies (such as for radical feminism or the labor movement) not usually shared by anarcho-capitalists."

[13] Mckay, Iain (2008). "Capitalism Does Not Equal the Market". Anarchist Writers. Archived from the original on 26 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025. It would be tempting to call such a system of market co-operatives "market anarchism" in the same way that Schweickart's calls his similar system market socialism, but that would be unwise. This is because "anarcho"-capitalists have appropriated that term in a rebranding exercise for their own ideology. (...) Best, I think, to call it mutualism, as Proudhon did — that would make it extremely difficult for the propertarian right to appropriate it.

[McKay2025-14] McKay, Iain (1 May 2025). "An Anarchist FAQ version 15.7 released". An Anarchist FAQ. Archived from the original on 24 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025. some have starting using the term "market anarchism" to describe Individualist Anarchism and mutualism. This can be considered as an equivalent of "market socialism" but the problem is that the term can be used by "anarcho"-capitalists in yet another attempt to smuggle their authoritarian ideology into anarchist circles.

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Market anarchism

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links