Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet by Tim Jackson

Author:Tim Jackson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Tags: Development, Environmental Economics, Wealth, Sustainable Development, Economics, General, Globalization, Political Science, International, Globalization - Economic Aspects, Economic Aspects, Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781844078943
Publisher: Earthscan
Published: 2009-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

9. Flourishing—Within Limits

We must bring back into society a deeper sense of the purpose of living. The unhappiness in so many lives ought to tell us that success alone is not enough. Material success has brought us to a strange spiritual and moral bankruptcy.

Ben Okri, October 2008[242]

Fixing the economy is only part of the problem. Addressing the social logic of consumerism is also vital. This task is far from simple—mainly because of the way in which material goods are so deeply implicated in the fabric of our lives.

Prosperity is not synonymous with material wealth. And the requirements of prosperity go beyond material sustenance. Rather, prosperity has to do with our ability to flourish: physically, psychologically and socially. Beyond mere subsistence, prosperity hangs crucially on our ability to participate meaningfully in the life of society.

This task is as much social and psychological as it is material. But the appealing idea that (once our material needs are satisfied) we could do away with material things flounders on a simple but powerful fact: material goods provide a vital language through which we communicate with each other about the things that really matter: family, identity, friendship, community, purpose in life.

There is clearly a puzzle here. If participation is really what matters, and material goods provide a language to facilitate that, then richer societies ought to show more evidence of it. In fact, the opposite appears to be the case. Robert Putnam’s groundbreaking book Bowling Alone provided extensive evidence of the collapse of community across the USA.2[243]

More generally, western society appears to be in the grip of a ‘social recession’. There is a surprising agreement on this from across the political spectrum. For example, Jonathan Rutherford, a commentator from the political left, points to rising rates of anxiety and clinical depression, increased alcoholism and binge drinking, and a decline in morale at work. Jesse Norman, from the political right, highlights the breakdown of community, a loss of trust across society and rising political apathy.[244]

The two authors disagree on the causes of social recession. For Rutherford, the main culprit is the increasing commoditization of public goods and the rising social inequalities that are engendered by capitalism itself. For Norman it is the over-bearing influence of ‘big’ government in people’s lives. Their prescriptions for solving the problem differ accordingly. But on the existence of a social recession there is much less disagreement.

The extent of this phenomenon clearly differs across different nations. Data from a recent module in the European Social Survey designed to measure social well-being illustrate this point. Figure 9.1 shows the different levels of trust and belonging experienced by respondents across 22 European nations. Those with the highest scores (for example Norway) experience far greater levels of trust and belonging than those with lower scores (for example the UK).

It’s commonly agreed that at least some of the reasons for a breakdown in trust lie in the erosion of geographical community. A study by Sheffield University for the BBC confirms this trend in the UK. Using

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.