The concept of the “free market” under capitalism is often promoted as an emblem of individual consumer choice and a driver of national economic growth and development. The priests of capitalism view the free market as the most effective and efficient mechanism for resource allocation, framing it as a key engine of economic progress. However, in practice, the free market is neither free nor fair for producers and consumers. Instead, it is largely controlled by capitalist interests. This idealised notion of a free market under capitalism becomes a mechanism that separates producers from consumers, establishing independent pricing structures designed to generate super-profits—often at the expense of working people.
In a capitalist system, “free market” implies that the state, government, and working masses—as both producers and consumers—cannot interfere in the market’s operations. Instead, market forces alone control prices, production, supply, demand, distribution, and consumption. Within this framework, the purchasing power of consumers and the productive capacities of producers determine individuals’ perceived worth. Price, rather than intrinsic value, dictates everything in a free market. As a result, it is often fictitious desires, rather than genuine human needs, that shape the culture of the capitalist free market.
The belief in the free market as an ideal under capitalism, championed by the Chicago School, has not only distorted economics as a discipline but has also eroded the social and moral foundations of the market once based on trust between consumers and producers regarding price, quality, and value. Capitalism’s version of free market undermines this trust, rendering market interactions impersonal, where consumers and producers are unknown to each other. Furthermore, neither symmetric nor asymmetric information is adequately accessible to producers and consumers concerning demand, supply, and pricing. As a result, the notion of perfect competition in the so-called free market under capitalism becomes a myth. Ultimately, it is the arbitrary nature of this free market that defines the system.
Governments provide both legal protection and security for the so-called free market under capitalism, allowing it to operate with minimal risk. When the free-market faces crises, the state and government step in to rescue it. The rules and regulations of the free market are neither neutral nor natural; rather, they are designed to protect the interests of the capitalist classes. Market forces establish their own rules to maintain dominance over economic activities, backed by the approval of the state and government. Thus, there is no inherent virtue in an unfettered “free market”; it is a capitalist project and a tool of exploitation of consumers and producers, legitimised by state and government.
The free market serves as a tool for transferring resources and wealth from the masses to a small, capitalist elite. It functions as a system for profit accumulation, aimed at expanding capitalism and benefiting capitalists. Today, the fundamentalist belief in the free market and its absolutist nature act like an opiate for policymakers, driven either by ignorance or a conscious choice to overlook the market’s history, social origins, and moral foundations.
The capitalist voices like George Soros describe the free market as a system in which “the doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism holds that the common good is best served by the uninhibited pursuit of self-interest.” In reality, however, there is little common ground between capitalists and the working masses, who are both producers and consumers. The free market does not offer genuine economic freedom to consumers or producers; instead, it is the antithesis of freedom and choice for both groups. It imposes control over production and consumption by manipulating the processes, institutions, and structures of the free-market economy and its culture.
The free market has failed to allocate resources effectively and efficiently. As a process, a project, and an institution, it has not succeeded in delivering and distributing resources, products, and services according to genuine human needs and desires. Free market has accelerated different forms of inequalities and undermined all attempts to achieve equality. It is time to reclaim the social and moral foundations of the market, where both consumers and producers are truly free to produce and consume. Saving the free market from capitalism and its proponents is essential. Free producers and free consumers can only establish free and fair market that works based on human trust and values of human needs.