devolution
by rantywoman
In contrast, we can be reasonably sure that prehistoric human societies were non-hierarchical, egalitarian and cooperative, as are the majority of today’s hunter-gatherer societies that have survived, and that human nature still tends towards these instincts. They – and we’re not only talking homo sapiens here, but possibly also antecedents like homo erectus – are believed to have had strong ties beyond their bloodline, with individuals in a group caring for children who were not their own. Members of a society who were reproductively useless – such as women too old to bear more children – would have still been valued, as humanity was apparently not synonymous with reproduction or social status. Early art venerated the female, not male, form, and so matriarchal societies may have been common. As kinship was not the main motivation for cooperation, it meant language, technology and friendships spread within and between groups more easily. From computer modelling of social interaction, it appears that egalitarianism may be an inevitable consequence of human-level intelligence.
thebitterbabe 
We are designed to live collectively. Everyone needs support at some point. As a recent mother I can tell you that breastfeeding Moms need a village. And this means more than a husband. Individualist capitalism is actually a fairly bizarre and impractical philosophy, but we keep trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
You are, at heart, a gangster that thinks taking other people’s stuff under threat of violence is a good idea.
Capitalism is the true mob. There are many exploited workers and unpaid care workers. Health insurance premiums are nothing more than “protection money” to the capitalist gangsters.
Instead of put down capitalism, which brings the most wealth to all of any system, why not just encourage more community? At the earlier part of our country we did have more community. And there are many who do participate in community. That is all that is needed, community. I live in an urban environment. There is some community and people are craving it. The only things getting in the way of it are a) apathy and b) fear.
There is much more in the way of community: work, commutes, stress over money, the need to move for jobs, the lack of parents at home during the day, reliance on cars and the disappearance of walkable communities. I could go on.
I was thinking about this today. Community is just a state of mind, an attitude. As in “do you want to help create community or not”? My friend needs help in training her dog. She is single and has several dogs and can’t do it all herself. I always say “yes” if I can because of my mindset….to help others, especially single people. Why? Because as you said everyone needs someone sometime and I personally get a lot of fulfillment being “helpful”. The thing is not everyone has this attitude but if you have a couple who do have that attitude it’s a start.
Starcatcher,
I agree. I believe that “community” is a product of the proper exercise of free will, no particular political system can force it, what we have is an array of imperfect political systems to choose from. As the saying goes, in Communism man exploits man and in Capitlism, it’s the reverse.
My preference is for free market capitalism but it only works when people exercise their free will in order to pursue not pure self-interest but also the interest of their neighbour. This implied social contract has broken down in America, which is why, on balance, having lived in both systems I prefer “social Europe” as the lesser of two evils. The difference between Europe and the U.S. is a difference of degree rather than a difference in kind.
People behave selfishly under both systems (American vs. social Europe) It does however get very difficult to go to work every day and pay taxes to house and people who have no intention of ever working. Both systems could work beautifully if people behaved less selfishly and embraced an ethic of not just rights but rights and duties. But unfortunately the culture in both places (Europe and the U.S.) is essentially the same – ME, ME, ME, ME, ME. I don’t know how to solve this conundrum. I do not believe the solution is “political.” In that respect I am very much a social conservative.
Just to clarify – when I refer to those who have “no intention” of ever working I am referring to a subset of those on benefits. The social welfare system was meant as a safety net, not as a way of life.
I have no issue with those who use it properly, and am happy to pay taxes to support it in this regard. The absence of such a social safety net in the U.S. for those who experiencing adversity is one of the reasons I don’t plan to return there, even though I love the place.
In Democracy In America Tocqueville foresaw that American capitalism would self-destruct if its citizens did not voluntarily adhere to the moral underpinnings of the Golden Rule (love of neighbour). I believe we are witnessing this unravelling, just as Tocqueville predicted.
I agree, but capitalism is not the culprit.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.”………..John Adams
I don’t think any other system would make it better. In socialism doesn’t mean there is genuine community…it just means things are forced upon each other. In fact it can get very ugly. I think it’s an attitude really. Some communities are more community minded and others are not.
Oh please, and societies that adopted communism or socialism, were so great, were they? That’s why they all collapsed: the USSR, the Democratic Germany…
Cuba has been agonizing for decades and everybody that had the chance escaped to the USA. Even China is turning to capitalism.
And I guess North Korea is a great place to live, you can’t even cut your own hair the way you please.
Our political/economic system may suck, but even so, it’s better that all the others.
Churchill said something along the lines of: Capitalism is surely the worst economic system, except for all the others that have been tried.
Indeed. Anyone who really thinks capitalism is that bad is welcome to move to one of those communist/socialist countries, not that there are all that many left. But I don’t see a mad rush to get into those, people wanting to get out, on the other hand…
It’s not fair to compare capitalism to utopia, and then complain that capitalism fails, because utopia is a dream and it doesn’t actually exist as a real alternative.
Someone said that capitalism actually gives the most opportunity for all. Of course now we have little opportunity because of a poor economy (and it could have been different). When it’s in full swing everyone has a place to participate.
I’d be happy to move to Sweden, but they won’t have me. There is a happy medium between free markets and socialism. The US has been a socialist democracy for much of the past 100 years. Social security, medicare, unemploymeny, the GI bill, etc. are what has civilized our society. One aspect of the free market that has never been adequately addressed, though, is the place of women and procreation. That’s why I always say women are the achilles heel of capitalism. We are now also seeing the “values” of the free market creep into interpersonal relations, like the manosphere notion of “sexual market vale.” If you probe deep enough you will find people like Mike are not a fan of women having social or economic liberty. You have issues with finding a mate in this market-driven dating climate and late capitalist economy and you think it’s personal. It’s not – it’s political.
I like what you said about “utopia”. I think we so often forget that whatever is chosen there is no utopia. Better systems, yes, things that works better but utopia, NO. Not even in Europe. There is a lot of writings on how the European system also has it’s drawbacks.
Thank you Maria. If you don’t have freedom, there is a certain totalitarianism. It can be “light” or “hard”…but either way it’s ugly. It’s about forcing others to do your will for the good of all (which isn’t the good of all in the end anyways…more poverty and suffering under these systems). In college they never delved into the ugliness of totalitarianism but it is hellish.
@MissM. It seems to me to be fairly pointless to have this “debate” on a niche post of a niche blog on the niche topic of mid-life issues, but nonetheless I feel obliged to point out that it was democracy not captalism that Churchill was talking about: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. Much as many would like to claim that the virtues of democracy and capitalism as interchangeable, we aren’t there yet.
I stand corrected. As usual it was something I found it on the internet, which is a dubious source unless you are very careful about the sites, and I didn’t bother to check it at all. My bad. I should have taken more care.
That should have been “something I found on” …bleh.
glowdecor
Capitalism is the true mob. There are many exploited workers and unpaid care workers. Health insurance premiums are nothing more than “protection money” to the capitalist gangsters.
I think the reason so many people dislike “capitalism” is because the economic system we have now is not really capitalism and has not been for a long time. Capitalism is not unrestrained corporatism. Capitalism requires regulation and the rule of law administered by moral people.
When I think of capitalism, I think of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” of free markets. What Smith said is that people should be free to pursue their own economic self-interest and by so doing the whole society will be uplifted. The alternative is collectivism in all its forms where the individual is subjugated to the group, in essence an economic slave. This has never worked well and has often ended in tremendous bloodshed.