The social question in a transnational context

The social question has come down upon us in two different understandings. Modestly understood, it is about helping the needy and creating opportunities for disadvantaged members of society. More ambitiously conceived, by contrast, it is about extricating human life generally from the false necessities of market dealings. The article argues that the ambitious understanding is likely to become eclipsed in a transnational context. Such an eclipse, in turn, threatens to destabilize transnational arrangements as soon as some participants embrace broader ambitions.