Commercial Corruption. A Fergusonian Perspective on Corruption in Democratic Capitalism

Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) was a representative of the Scottish Enlightenment and a keen observer of modern commercialism. This article considers his account of corruption in his Essay on the History of Civil Society in order to contribute to a fuller understanding of corruption and its sources. According to Ferguson, modern commercial institutions generate a peculiar form of corruption by privileging private fortune over public virtue as a means of distinction between citizens. Ferguson's view sheds light on the contradictions of contemporary democratic capitalism and has, for this reason, some justification to serve as a mirror image of our present-day circumstances. In particular, Ferguson's concept of corruption can serve as a starting point for developing a concept of corruption that overcomes the dichotomy between narrowly individualist and overly broad structural understandings of the phenomenon.