Joiner Flourishing Pathway Blog Ten - Capitalism

In this blog we explore JFP Principle 10 - We have been seduced into thinking consuming and wealth creation will bring us happiness, yet evidence shows focusing on wealth creation fosters greed and alienates us from each other, depleting wellbeing, and happiness. Further, unchecked production and consumption is leading us toward an environmental tragedy. I have not finished entirely with liberalism; this blog follows directly from JFP Blog 9 - Liberalism. What I haven’t yet discussed is capitalism, and although it is not necessarily viewed as an aspect of liberalism, its growth could not have taken place without the kind of ideas liberalism has fostered. It has also been influential on our thinking.

The liberal notion of freedom of constraints on the individual has been taken up by business, which I believe has enabled the seamless growth of capitalism. Wood (2005) provides a straightforward description of capitalism, saying it is a ‘market-based, commodity-producing economic system controlled by ‘capital’, that is, purchasing-power used to hire labour for wages’ (p. 125). This accurate description of capitalism explains how it has provided the system by which many government economies thrive and depend.

However, there have long been those cautioning it’s acceptance. The infamous Karl Marx expressed his concerns about capitalism and the ‘capitalist class’, in the mid 1800’s. Articulated by Wood (2005), he says Marx’s central claim was that

… capital has an inherent tendency to accumulate, concentrating social power in the hands of the capitalist class and bringing the exploited working class more and more under its economic domination (p. 125).

It is open to debate whether the working classes are exploited, although given wages do not usually increase when company profits do, the argument has merit. And despite the passage of time, Marx’s view of capitalism as concentrating social power rings true. In a Oxfam International report it was claimed ‘eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’ (2017, p. 2). The report also discussed how big business, along with the super-rich, are driving the inequality crisis by ‘paying as little tax as possible … by using tax havens or by making countries compete to provide tax breaks’, ‘relentlessly squeezing down the costs of labour’ -  and frequently using ‘their fortunes to help buy the political outcomes they want’ (Oxfam 2017, pp. 3-5). Further, another study found ‘that increasingly large net outflows have caused economic growth rates in developing countries to decline, and are directly responsible for falling living standards’ (Hickel 14/01/2017). So, Western companies profit in third world countries frequently leaving other economies to decline.

One can only speculate that the lack of concern for workers whose labour enables company profits to increase while workers toil yet frequently don’t earn enough money to feed their families, comes from the kind of attitude that Nozick and Trump articulated. It is freedom in the extreme, including freedom from concern of others, freedom from common decency, freedom to accumulate wealth at the expense of others, etcetera. This arguably has come about due to our adherence to the liberalist ideal that the individual is paramount, that self-sufficiency is the key to the autonomous self, and that extreme wealth accumulation is acceptable.

We could also say that liberalism and capitalism together have fostered the idea that greed is acceptable, and unethical practices, such as employing tax evasion strategies, which, according to Donald Trump, is a result of being ‘smart’, is passable. However, it is not smart for governments to allow tax evasion to continue unchecked as they rely on taxes to help pay for a myriad of services. Thus, governments increasingly struggle to pay for the supports the population need to thrive, putting pressure on average citizen’s to pay more individual tax, to prop up where big business evades.

In addition, while big business lobbyists are granted parliamentary passes to ‘roam the halls of parliament’ whenever they wish, giving them ‘unfettered access’ to politicians (Knaus & Evershed 17/09/2018), community groups, individuals, and organisations are frequently denied audience with parliamentarians for years. Big business also gain audience with parliamentarians at dinners where tickets frequently cost thousands of dollars. What’s more, Christopher Knaus revealed in The Guardian, ‘Hidden donors handed more than $90m in “dark money” to Australian political parties in the financial year of the last federal election’ (Knaus 11/02/2023). While there is a lack of scrutiny and thus proof that any of these donations directly influence political decision-making, one wonders why they donate if not for their own benefit (Maxwell 2015).

Yet, while we may criticise corporate greed, an Australian Bureau of Statistics document showed there had been a substantial increase in household consumption expenditure (152%) from the years 1960 to 2006, enabling Australians to enjoy a much higher standard of material wellbeing than in the early 1960s (Australian-Government 2007), whilst our individual generosity had decreased. In a Community Council of Australia report, the authors stated there had been a reduction in the kindness of the Australian population at large. They said that despite being

… above average compared to other OECD countries in equality of access to employment, education levels, and business confidence … We volunteer less and give less as a percentage of our income than we did five years ago. We are slipping down the international corruption scale just as we are slipping down the scale of international generosity (Crosbie & Marjolin 2016, p. 9).

Along with lowering kindness levels, the size of the average family home increased dramatically: ‘The average floor area of new residential buildings increased by 37.4% (from 149.7 m2 to 205.7 m2) between 1984-95 and 2002-03 (Australian-Government 2005). Twenty years on they are now even larger.

We can take from this that Australians have readily adapted their behaviour towards increased spending in line with increases in their disposable incomes. Yet while our increased consumption rewards big business by increasing their profits, none of this contributes to our happiness quotient. As Plato (380BC/1992) rightly argued so long ago; happiness is not found in the pursuit of wealth, but in having internal balance (p. 118/442c ).

Indeed, focusing on wealth creation, Plato asserted, can never be a recipe for happiness, as it is a signal that a part of the soul, the appetitive part, is unrestrained, and ‘their desires are insatiable. For the part they are trying to fill’, he says, ‘is like a vessel full of holes, and neither it nor the things they are trying to fill it with are among the things that are’ (p. 257/586b). Two and a half thousand years later wellbeing and happiness studies agree with Plato’s assessment, that those with their main focus on wealth creation are less happy than those who are primarily focused on relationship, community, interdependence and living well in the world with others (Sheldon et al. 2004).

Wellbeing research thus suggests we need to question whether the things liberalism and capitalism encourage, such as wealth accumulation, self-sufficiency, individualism, and greed, provide the best direction for us. I suggest these pursuits ought not to be the measures by which we make choices for ourselves, our infants, and families. This would require self-reflection as to what our motivations are and what it is we really want for our families. However, to suggest that parents earn less and therefore consume less so they can nurture their infants, challenges current Western political thinking and support mechanisms which are currently available to families (more about this is JFP Blogs 16 & 17).

Thus, at this point in our exploration, our ethical dilemma is unresolved.  

In addition, governments increasing economic reliance on citizens consuming at ever higher levels and encouraging women to get back to work so they can ‘earn and spend’, is not connected with over consumption in the West, which in turn threatens our very existence through climate change. Ultimately, we are living within an unsustainable model.

While we can’t change the ethics of our political systems immediately, what we can do as parents, is reflect on our own priorities, educate ourselves on what it is our infants need, understanding that at present there are inadequate supports for families. We can also try to influence governments to better financially, socially, and emotionally support the building blocks of society, families.

In the next blog we explore feminism; JFP Principle 11, asking how feminism has influenced how women see themselves – particularly mothers of pre-school children.

Bibliography

Australian-Government 2005, 'Australian home size is growing', Australian Bureau of Statistics, <http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article262005>.

ABo Statistics 2007, Australian social trends, by ——, Australian Bureau of Statistics, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/0485BB5550FE5799CA25732C00207C77?opendocument>.

Crosbie, D & Marjolin, A 2016, The Australia We Want: First Report, Community Council for Australia, Canberra.

Hickel, J 14/01/2017, 'Aid in reverse: how poor countries develop rich countries', The Guardian, <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/14/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries>.

Knaus, C 11/02/2023, Australia’s political parties received $90m in dark money from donors during election year, The Guardian, <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/11/australias-political-parties-received-90m-in-dark-money-from-donors-during-election-year>.

Knaus, C & Evershed, N 17/09/2018, Australia's Lax Lobbying Regime the Domain of Party Powerbrokers, The Guardian, Australia, <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/17/australias-lax-lobbying-regime-the-domain-of-party-powerbrokers>.

Maxwell, J 2015, 'Political donations reform is not so easy', Eureka Street, vol. 25, no. 14, pp. 12-13.

Oxfam 2017, An economy for the 99%, viewed 17/03/2017, <https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-economy-for-99-percent-160117-en.pdf>.

Plato 380BC/1992, Republic - trans G.M.A. Grube, Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis US.

Sheldon, KM, Ryan, RM, Deci, EL & Kasser, T 2004, 'The independent effects of goal contents and motives on well-being: it's both what you pursue and why you pursue it', Personality & social psychology bulletin, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 475-486.

Wood, A 2005, 'Capitalism', in T Honderich (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2 edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 125.