It has become commonplace to hail "the free market" as the optimal solution to any and all economic (and political) challenges. Proponents of free markets tout in particular both the potential for efficiency gains from and the normative allure of decentralized markets that leverage "the wisdom of the crowd" and price mechanisms to supply society's needs. Its ideological  attractiveness notwithstanding, the free market is no panacea: popular zeal for the concept tends to gloss over both the stringency of the assumptions underpinning the idealized free market and the potential human (and economic) costs of relying on the market without adequately accounting for those assumptions. This seminar examines the free market from a number of angles, from the theoretical and real-world impact of the model and its extensions to the construction and spread of free-market ideology. We will discuss both positive and negative impacts of the use of the model in fields ranging from economics, political science, history, sociology, and communications.