No Rising Tide by Rieger Joerg M

Author:Rieger, Joerg M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fortress Press

To Each According to Their Need

How we view desire shapes how we view humanity, the world, and God. In mainline economic theory as well as in much of mainline theology, the view of desire is mostly static and fixed. Whatever desire is considered to be from these points of view, it is mostly seen as focused on the interests of the individual self. The rational self-interest promoted by economics is often interpreted as a close match with theological understandings of sin as self-centeredness.84 Yet this interpretation is, at the same time, too strong and not strong enough. It is not strong enough because it does not account for sin in a deeper fashion. If sin were to be taken seriously in classical fashion as separation from God, the self-centered human being would not be guided by the rational self-interest of economic theory but by hunger for domination, lust, greed, anger, and envy.85 If sin were to be taken really seriously in mainline economics, how could one maintain confidence that the capitalists who engage in the market were not merely out to kill and destroy one another? Is the mainline position too optimistic about human nature?

At the same time, this assessment of self-interest also seems to be too strong because it is too rigid. It is too quickly assumed that self-interest describes the reality of all human beings in all places and at all times. This assumption does not work on various levels. As economist Jim Stanford has noted, for instance, anthropologists argue that some sort of cooperative behavior—however limited—was an important factor in the emergence of humanity. Furthermore, there are many examples where monetary self-interest is not the only thing that moves people: Stanford names firefighters, scientists who work long hours, or parents caring for children and grandparents.86 The commonly accepted assumption that people act selfishly in the marketplace and altruistically in the family has been shown to be false by feminist economists. If altruism were invariably at work in families, it would make little difference, for instance, if family allowance payments were made to fathers rather than to mothers. Furthermore, when males conspire to exploit women, they seem to engage in “selective within-sex altruism.”87

What is missing in the mainline positions of economics is an assessment of human nature that is grounded in history, which includes the reality of economic production. This problem parallels a common problem in theology that occurs if sin is defined in abstract form without taking into account historical specificity. While the Augustinian definition of sin as pride does, in fact, fit some people—in our own context we might think of those in positions of great power like prominent CEOs and top investors—for others sin is better understood in the opposite way, for instance, as an unhealthy humility that leads people to underestimate their own capacity and power. In our society, this has been true especially of women who are taught to think of themselves as the “weaker sex,” as submissive and subservient, and to put first not their self-interest but the interest of their husbands and families.

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