is issue is one of the few which can mobilize consumers to exert power by acting in unison.
The relationship between the individual and business in contemporary American society has been effectively defined by business and its cohort the federal government. Business and government have defined the relationship as equity versus efficiency ("Can Socially Responsible Societies Compete Econ omically?" 1985). If the individual had shaped the character of the question, the question of efficiency would have likely focused on the ability of society to meet human needs jobs, goods, and services required by individuals to lead decent, healthy, and secure lives (Sweezy, 1985). As it is, the business/government consortium has defined efficiency as the ability of the society to produce a large gross national 3product (Okun, 1977). A large gross national product does not assure distributional equity.
The general conclusion of business appears to be that, to gain efficiency, equity must be sacrificed (Okun, 1977). Thus, in the name of efficiency, (1) business has become the federal government's "favorite welfare client" (Bandow, 1985, p. 48), (2) societal goods, such as environmental protection, to cite but one, have been sacrificed on the altar of cost benefit analysis (Tolchin, 1984), and (3) the rights of the individual versus business have deteriorated (Johnson, 1985).
It is a relatively easy task to record the occurrence of the phenomena discussed above, and it is relatively easy to see how such developments conflict with the principles of indivi dualism upon which American society is supposed to be based. It is more difficult, however, to understand why individuals in American society not only accept by embrace such a relation ship. One plausible explanation is the way in which the free mar ket concept is sold to the American public.
Andrew Shotter (1985) identified individualism, property rights, rationality, ...