Put more abstractly: people care not only about prosperity but also about fairness, equality, and expressions of mutual respect. Inside these little zones things seem to work OK, which makes us forget that things are really not OK at a deeper level.įor example, with respect to the social contract in modern capitalism, I expect that many people who believe in the importance of prosperity/overall GDP/economic growth also endorse some informal version of the following: those who work hard at a full-time job should be able to support themselves or maybe even a family those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder should be able to improve their situation with care and hard work wages should reflect a fair wage for the work involved. The situation is obviously complex, but I think one possibility has to do with the ways that various values create small shifting zones of coherence and acceptability.
How the denizens of modern capitalism frame their faith in overall prosperity with the existence of this suffering and violation of rights has always interested me. And we've written on this blog of the way that modern electronics production relies on getting minerals in exploitative and violent conditions. One of the wake-up calls of the pandemic has been that carers in nursing homes are working multiple jobs at various homes, just to make ends meet, thus increasing the likely spread of disease. It's never been a secret that agricultural workers, people who work elsewhere in the food supply chain, cleaners, gig economy workers, and others work long, long hours in sometimes brutal conditions for little pay - often working multiple jobs. Here the details get a little fuzzy, about whether that wealth has to improve everyone's lives or what exactly.įrom a practical point of view, I think it's fair to say that if actual contemporary western capitalism creates wealth, it is doing so in a system that relies on horrible and exploitative conditions for many. People talk about the various justifications and injustices of capitalism in many ways, but one common one has to do with overall prosperity: more wealth is created by capitalism than in alternative systems, it is argued, and this wealth improves people's lives. The story describes a beautiful well-functioning town in which almost everyone is well and happy, but in which all the good things depend on the utter misery of one small child - a child who is forever locked in small basement room in squalid conditions and constant suffering. Often when I think about the dysfunction of capitalism, I think about the short story " The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," by Ursula Le Guin. The richer classes are finally like - "wait - my food and well-being depends on these people! Are they OK? What if something happens to them?!" The pandemic crisis is prompting a lot of reflection about the dysfunctions of a capitalist system, which I guess is a good thing, though I'm pessimistic about much in the way of positive change.
Content warning: this post gets a little dark by moments, so if you're not in the right frame of mind, maybe read it later, or don't read it at all.