The school is represented by thinkers like David Korten who believe in "regulated markets" checked by government and civil society; for Kovel, they do not provide a critique of the expansive nature of capitalism away from localized production and ignore "questions of class, gender, race or any other category of domination". Kovel also criticized their "fairy-tale" view of history, which refers to the abuse of "natural capital" by the materialism of the Scientific Revolution, an assumption that, in Kovel's eyes, seems to suggest that "nature had toiled to put the gift of capital into human hands" rather than capitalism being a product of social relations in human history.
The school of thought championed by thinkers like David Korten advocates for government and civil society oversight of markets, while Kovel criticizes their lack of focus on the negative impacts of capitalism, such as its disregard for class, gender, race, or other forms of social inequality. Kovel also challenges their view of history, arguing that it oversimplifies the relationship between human actions and the exploitation of natural resources during the Scientific Revolution.