Društvo i (ili) tržište - sociološka konceptualizacija procesa marketizacije društva

The main goal of this work was to theoretically conceptualise the process of marketisation which designates the transformation of society into a market economy and social relations into market relations. The starting point is first the comparative analysis of the definitions of the term market by some classic authors (Smith, Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Parsons), each of whom define it from their perspective as a monetary mechanism of exchange in the economic sphere of social activity. In the second chapter K. Polanyi's theory of social transformation is presented, in which he is the first to state that the principle of market self-regulation has become the fundamental feature of modern society. Analysed in the third chapter is the market economy society model of D. Slater and F. Tonkiss, who claim that the process of marketisation in the most developed countries has already been completed and that today's society has already become a market society. The paper also presents in short the theory of marketing neglected in sociological literature, the main concept of market economy as a rational system of research and planning, which is currently not only applied in the economy but also in politics and culture. A special chapter is devoted to commodification, a process that concretises on a micro level the goals of marketisation, implying the transformation of nature, things, people, relations, meanings and immaterial resources into market commodities. The ultimate result of the marketisation and commmodification processes in a market society becomes evident in Rifkin’s ominous hypothesis that all human life has become an experience to pay for, which is also the topic of the last chapter.