The Education of Citizens in a Market Economy and its Relationship to a Free Society.

The question of the relationship between capitalism and democracy is not new; scholars have produced a rich literature about it that includes virtually every considerable point of view. Yet the question is of more than historical interest; with the recent dramatic political and economic upheavals in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, it becomes again a question of great moment. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: first, to summarize briefly the more important, current thinking of U.S. scholars about the capitalism/democracy connection; second, to call attention to the specific economic values and fundamental assumptions about economic activity that underlie U.S. constitutionalism and reinforce democratic norms; and, finally, to consider the implication of the foregoing for the education of citizens in a market-oriented, democractic society. (DB)