The Moral Limits Of Markets-an Analysis Of The Controversy Over Surrogacy

Markets are important forms of social and economic organization, marketsare recognized as the most efficient way we have to organize production in acomplex economy. However markets are extending to new domains, such asreproductive services、human organs and the right to pollute. The marketization ofthese particular goods may bring serious moral effects, so we should think themoral limits of markets, in other words what’s the basis of prohibiting markets.Surrogacy seriously challenges the concept of reproduction, the role ofreproduction and the order of reproduction, the controversy of surrogacy has beenone of the important issues of the moral limits of markets. This dissertation willanalysis the controversy over surrogacy based on Sandel’s、Radin’s and Satz’stheories of the moral limits of markets.Sandel argues two kinds of arguments reverberating through debates aboutsurrogacy: one is the fairness objection. The fairness objection points out thatsurrogates may choose surrogacy under economic desperation, this is kind ofcoercion in the unfair trade; The other is the corruption objection. The corruptionobjection focuses on the character of the goods themselves and the norms thatshould govern them. There would still be some things that should not buy even ina society without unjust differences of power and wealth. Human is deserved torespect not to use. It demeans women that surrogacy regards women’s body as afactory.Radin objects to it theorizing the social world in terms of a pure marketdomain and a pure nonmarket domain, she raises a notion market-inalienability(things that may be given away but not sold are market-inalienable) to remainunderstanding of something that we have preciously value in anoncommodification way. But market-inalienabilities are unjust when they are tooharmful to personhood in our nonideal world. Radin further puts forward a notionincomplete commodification. Incomplete commodification means that the sameperson can understand an interaction in different and conflicting ways, in terms ofwork, people can do it to satisfy one’s survival needs and also feels creativity and self-actualization at the same time. It also used to refer to the social policies orpeople’s different views. Incomplete commodification regime allows the marketsbut regulated by governments. On issue of the surrogacy, Radin poses that itregards women as tool of making money. It commodifies the attributes ofwomen(such as height、skin color).It also reinforces the unreasonable expect ofgender role maintaining men’s genetic lineage. It strengthens the gender inequality.In her opinion, market-inalienability seems an attractive policy solution. There’resome problems in nonideal world. First, it will not satisfy the will of someonewho wants a baby; Second, it will force the poor women in worse economicsitituation; Third, it will not respect the freedom of gift surrogacy.So we agreewith surrogacy while guaranteeing the interests of week angency in surrogacycontract.In Satz’s view, Sandel and Satz share two important weakness: there arerival views of the meaning of many particular goods, and more importantly, thereis only a tenuous connection in most cases between the meaning we give to agood and its distribution by a market. Satz poses that market actually referred to aheterogeneous collection of economic relations. Particular markets may bring lowefficiency,but also inequality that even redistribution can’t remedy. She claims acharacterization of four parameters in terms of noxious markets: first,vulnerability. Surrogate mothers always in poor situation; second, weakagency.Surrogacy contract ignores the interests of the child who should live withhis or her parents; Third, extreme harms for individual. Surrogacy gives othersincreased access to and control over women’s bodies and sexuality. Forth, extremeharms for society. The main problem of surrogacy is that it reinforces a traditionalgender-hierarchical division of labor.We try to use a general frame to analysis surrogacy based on theirtherories: First, the corruption objection. Surrogacy regards women as use subjectnot end. It evaluates people in lower norms; Second, the crowding out effect.Surrogacy should normalize in parent-child norms not commercial norms. Third,unjust objection. It reinforces a traditional gender-hierarchical division of labor.