‘A 360° tour of markets, like a filmmaker roaming economies with a camera – simple yet deep, detailed without ever losing perspective. A must-read.’ Koray Caliskan, The New School

‘Politically engaged and engagingly written, this book equips social scientists with the necessary tools for investigating and tinkering with markets.’ Paul Langley, Durham University

‘A compelling, lucid rethinking of markets as political, moral and material arrangements shaping who prospers and who does not. A must-read for all those interested in understanding how our economy works.’ Katy Mason, University of Salford

‘What Are Markets For? is a deceptively simple question that starts to unravel as soon as you pull at the strings that make markets and hold them together. This is what Philip Roscoe does in this lively and compelling book.’ Bill Maurer, University of California, Irvine

‘This book accomplishes an almost impossible feat: sketching the contours of an extremely complex entity – the market – in a highly accessible and entertaining manner.’ Susi Geiger, University College Dublin

★ Edited by George Miller, internationally renowned and bestselling editor of the “Very Short Introductions” series—a flagship general‑interest library published worldwide—former Editorial Director of Popular Books at Oxford University Press, and a distinguished translator and writer, this series has been meticulously researched and carefully crafted.

★ Highly recommended by leading scholars such as Sir David Cannadine, Professor at Princeton University and Series Editor of “The Penguin History of Europe”; Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics; and Ron Deibert, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Co‑Chair of the Information Security Committee.

★ Written by preeminent international experts in their fields, these volumes explore new pathways for our times and society, actively engaging with readers around the globe so that they can truly grasp and appreciate the possibilities for a better future. Among the expert authors are:
◎ Dr. Shinderpal Singh Bhui, Visiting Professor of Law at the Oxford Centre for Criminology and Head of the Inspection Team at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (OBE);
◎ Dr. Jake MacDonald, Senior Lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London and an expert on ethics, law, technology, and warfare;
◎ Rhodri Davies, Pears Research Fellow at the Kent Centre for Philanthropy and Founding Director of the think tank “Charity Affairs”;
◎ Tim Stevens, a scholar of international security in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and editor of the “Key Issues in Digital Security and Society” series, among others.

★ Engaging yet authoritative, these indispensable guides to the contemporary world once again uphold the principle of “highly accessible presentation,” offering readers concise, compelling, and thought‑provoking books that examine crucial facets of today’s global landscape and its trajectories. Each volume not only elucidates the historical roots and mechanisms behind its subject but also clarifies its purpose within our societies—and, above all, how it can serve more effectively.

★ Focusing on the most pressing challenges in the social, political, economic, and cultural realms of our era, this series goes beyond mere introductions, distinguished by its probing into the aims and implications of these issues while proposing solutions and charting paths forward. Its topics transcend disciplinary boundaries, extending from the social sciences to cutting‑edge fields such as artificial intelligence and biomedicine. At a pivotal juncture in humanity’s development, we must reflect deeply on the directions we take across all domains. This series extends a sincere invitation to readers, helping them think more thoroughly, efficiently, and with greater clarity about the road ahead.

★ The status quo is being disrupted. Today, humanity faces multiple, interconnected challenges, some of which may determine our very survival. If we believe the world can be different—if we aspire to make it better—then scrutinizing both what we do and what is done in our name has never been more urgent. This series examines the directions and destinations shaping several of the most vital spheres of the contemporary world, illuminating their nature through close observation, contemplating our future, and exploring how to purposefully forge a better one—thereby offering fresh perspectives on current debates, controversies, and challenges.

The series currently comprises 23 titles:
“What is Cybersecurity for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What is Philanthropy for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What is War for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What are Animal Rights for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What are Prisons for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What are the Olympics for?” (March 2024)
“What is History for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What is Vegetarianism for?” (June 2024)
“What are Museums for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What are Zoos for?” (Simplified Chinese rights already licensed)
“What is Counterterrorism for?” (November 2024)
“What is Journalism for?” (April 2025)
“What is Monarchy for?” (April 2025)
“What is Humanism for?” (June 2025)
“What is the Welfare State for?” (June 2025)
“What is Drug Policy for?” (September 2025)
“What is Truth for?” (September 2025)
“What are Nuclear Weapons for?” (November 2025)
“What is FIFA for?” (March 2026)
“What is Immigration Policy for?” (March 2026)
“What is the Market for?” (June 2026)
“What is Anthropology for?” (September 2026)
“What is Space Exploration for?” (November 2026)

★ The professor of management, a sociologist, and a financial journalist who excels at “turning economics into stories”; one of the inaugural recipients of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers program; editor-in-chief of Routledge’s Journal of Cultural Economy; and author of How to Build a Stock Exchange—Philip Roscoe presents his latest work.

This book offers fresh insights into the role of markets and their future place in society.
Markets may appear straightforward: they connect buyers and sellers. Yet their functioning is highly complex, shaped by location, commodities, networks, and a host of other factors. The belief in markets is itself a cultural and political ideology. It serves as a mode of governance in modern society, closely tied to individualistic notions of self-responsibility.
But markets also have a darker side. Not everything should be subject to exchange. Markets wield political power; they tend to benefit those who already possess resources; they undermine collective action; and they can even give rise to exploitation. This book not only examines why markets exist, but also considers whom they truly serve—and what changes are needed to ensure that we can thrive in the twenty-first century.

Philip Roscoe
A professor of management at the University of St Andrews, he has been named by BBC Radio 3 as one of the first “New Generation Thinkers.” A sociologist with a keen interest in market organization, he primarily employs sociological methods to study markets and finance. Roscoe boasts an exceptionally interdisciplinary academic background: a PhD in Management from Lancaster University, an MPhil in Medieval Arabic Thought and Philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Theology from the University of Leeds. Before joining the University of St Andrews, he served as an Assistant Professor at Montpellier Business School in France from 2008 to 2009, and prior to that, as a Research Assistant at Lancaster University. He is the author of *How to Build a Stock Exchange* and has published articles in leading journals of sociology and management, including *Organization Studies*, *Human Relations*, *Accounting, Organizations and Society*, and *Economy and Society*. His monographs have been released through Oxford University Press and Penguin Random House, such as *The Creative Economy: Firms, Intellectual Property, and the Valuation of Commodities* (Oxford, 2019) and *I Spend Therefore I Am: How Economics Has Changed the Way We Think and Feel* (Random House, 2014). In addition, he is one of the three co‑editors of Routledge’s *Journal of Cultural Economy*. A former financial journalist who also ran his own small business, Roscoe was among the first cohort of “New Generation Thinkers” selected by BBC Radio 3, and one of the ten recipients of this distinction—a program jointly conceived and promoted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC.

1 Introduction
2 Markets are Networks
3 The End of History?
4 Meeting Santa and Making Markets
5 Markets and the Law
6 Histories of Accumulation
7 What Should not be for Sale?
8 The Drama of Markets
9 Crisis and the End of an Era
10 Civilizing Markets?