This is part of a second-level Open University course presented for the first time in 1994. The course examines the experience of American society this century, using the insights and analytic tools of politics, geography, sociology, history, economics and literature to develop both a complex portrait and an understanding of the most powerful nation in the world. This volume of essays analyzes the idea of the market system and the way a number of particular markets work in the US. Chapters focus on the organization of consumption, production process technologies and management styles, productivity and growth, gender issues in the US economy, and regional and geographical aspects of production. It provides a comprehensive overview of the US economic system and as such will be of interest to students of American politics, public policy, business administration and geography, as well as economics.