Commentary
In 2019, I published what many people then told me was my best book: “The Market Loves You.” It was a reflection on C.S. Lewis’s “four loves” in light of commercial society. One of these loves involves friendship, association, and appreciation for another, and the sense of trust that comes from a routine experience of such relationships.
I argued that commercial society—the mutual gift-giving society of exchange—is a main venue by which people experience this type of love. We encounter strangers in the marketplace and discover mutual interest. You know this from experience, whether your workplace (as it once was) or where you meet friends for a meal and drink. Or it could be the server or salesperson you encounter one time or often….