Consumerism as a spiritual good
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» pozzo - Economic fundamentalism ?
First of all, I'd like to correct an embarrassing mistake : those who believe in prophet Mohammed are called Muslims, not islamists...While it is undeniable that there has been improvements (progress is too much of a religious term) through the developement of the economy, along with science and technology, it has not always been the case, and it still isn't, for many people on this planet. Economic developement, by itself, does not necessarily mean improvement for the lives of the majority - though for the elite of our societies, it always does, at least quantitatively.
I don't think factory workers in Manchester (England) by 1820 had better lives then than a century earlier, when most if not all of them were farmers. Yet, it was a time of tremendous technological and economic breakthrough. The farmers were expelled from the countryside in the 18th because there was no need for men on the fields anymore (so called "agrarian revolution"). Their conditions of life and work in the cities were such that even a Middle-age serf would not have changed for them. Sure, in the middle (not the same meaning as nowadays) and upper classes, people had never been so rich.
In 2004, what are the results of globalisation for our rich Western countries ? I won't speak of job loss and gain, because I don't have any data to build on. But international workforce competition means steadily evening conditions of work to the lowest level, and that is unquestionable. An illustration ? There's a new fashion in Germany and France for business owner: they blackmail their workers by "asking" them to work more for less, else the factories moves abroad.
Also, a quick look at the Mexican border or at child labour in Asia to name only a few examples helps realising that "economic progress" on its own is still not making everybody happier.
You might think that I've gone a bit off-topic, but my point is that the blind faith in "economic progress" et al that your text displays is very close to religious. The religion of economics is a fairly new creation, but not the first. We could think of the religion of science (where the notion of "progress" is also god), or the religion of the Republic, in the case of the French Revolution.
It does not make sense to blame the Christian or the Muslim faith, let alone "all religions" as you said. Basically, what you're saying translates as "economic progress is the universal truth. Anyone who believes in something different is necessarily wrong" which is a nearly fundamentalist attitude (no offence intended).
There are considerable difference between Catholics and Protestants over wealth for instance (could go further with the different Protestant sects). The Muslims are split into many sects too- and I don't think a Sufi, a Wahhabite or a Twelver share exactly the same view on wealth and material improvement, though I don't know much about it.
For someone that has as few religious (traditional or not) leanings as possible and a fairly open mind, the idea that things you can't produce nor buy, say knowledge, social relationships, contemplation of nature or even deprivation and meditation, are better than the quest for the accumulation of goods, unreasonable idea, though entirely open to debate. Forcing people to live a life of deprivation would be idiotic and totalitarian - on this I agree with you. But on the other hand, our society is forcing us since childhood to believe in consumerism. And it's no better.
-- posted by pozzo
-- posted by pozzo
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