Our economy was formed when there was no universal voting franchise, nor gender, race, or social class equality ,,,,, add discrimination by age to that list. Women did not have property rights, in a world governed by patriarchal self-interest. Society has evolved but our economy has not adapted to meet our expectations. Our ambitions for economic and social justice are constrained by the philosophies underpinning this old-world order of values.
What fills the gap? Capitalism grows wealth, personal wealth often beyond reason, but was never designed to meet social need as a primary purpose. Essential and necessary collective rights, for our common good, found meaning through socialist inspired national ownership, control and intervention. But, both philosophies are rooted in the power that derives from control and ownership, not well-being values. We are left marooned in a paradigm which ill serves us, of capitalism operating for personal self-interest, balanced by state intervention; one enjoys a monopoly over the market economy, the other legislates beyond the day-to-day impacts of the market economy.
SOCIETISM
A social and political philosophy that promotes the well-being of the group, of society, without sacrificing the unique significance of the individual.
- Are we all capitalists, driven purely by individualism? No
- Are we all collectivists, believing in the pre-eminence of the State? No
- Are we all societal, individual beings, living together in society, mutually dependent on others? YES
Our society is diverse, made up of individuals with different ways of living and beliefs on every matter under the sun, but our economy and the philosophies driving it, are binary, unfit for modern societal purpose. We can aspire through our personal self-interest, believe in the good purposes of the State and hold different institutional political allegiances, if any, yet we can also care for our wider community and be advocates of societal best-interest. We can share a determination to build a better future and demand it.
Democracy is strong when society is unified through shared purpose. It is weakened when the pursuit of personal economic self-interest, based on the economics and politics of personal difference, at the core of capitalism, fractures the bonds that build a healthy society. Populists rely on this to drive wedges within the general population, when the issue remains: what rights should the general population enjoy which reduces marginalisation. Governments come and go, as they should, and policy changes. A societal framework embeds just and fair rights permanently for our personal, but also collective best-interests. This then is a battle of philosophies which goes to the heart of what it means to be human, affecting our lived experience and the society of which we are a part.