In reply to Derlugunian's:
>Capitalism in its pursuit of profit has been outstandingly innovative
>indeed. Incidentally, the
>trajectory of arts in modern world-system is even more awe-inspiring -- or
>pitiful, considering that it travelled from Renaissance standards to
>mass-culture and post-modernism.
>Capitalism (plus, maybe, European feudalism, an extremely
>technologically and artistically dynamic period as well) might look in
>hypothetical retrospect as geologically brief phase of mutation on the way
>towards another equilibrium.
Hmm ...
There are various other cases of extremely innovative and dynamic
societies (in art and in technology) in history where innovation or artistic
creation was not primarily spurned by the motive of gaining a personal
profit e.g. the Khalifates of Bagdad and Cordoba in the ninth century or
Sung China or where the pursuit of mean profit was actually shunned, Athens
in the fifth/fourth century B.C. - perhaps the most innovative societ ever -
being the prime case.
Although there are still some writers arguing that Athens was
primarily a mercantile society that is ideology (one of the many words we
derive from Athens) the Athenian elite which produced the galaxy of artistic
and scholarly work of which we are still in awe nowadays despised working
for an income let alone working for a profit.
Now, if you would have asked a member of the Athenian elite, such as
Aristotoles, why they produced scholarly or artistic work if it was not for
a profit Aristotoles would have answered that they were striving for thymos,
that is the urge to distinguish oneself from the other citizens of Athens.
And, Aristotoles would have pointed out, the search for money is just one
form of man's strife for thymos.
There are many other reasons why man strive for thymos: the
admiration of one's kin-group or, indeed, members of the other sex.
I think Aristotle has a point here - as research among soldiers shows man
face death only to gain respect from their fellows - not for profit, as is,
too, shown by the textbook case of the classic `chicken' - game among
American adolescents (immoralized from the male perspective in James Dean's
`Rebel without a cause' or from the female's perspective in a classic clip
by Paula Abdul). And indeed since the mossosaurus already had bizarre
adorations on his snout to distinguish himself from other mossosaurians
thymos is at least as ancient an urge as the idleness adduced by Sanderson.
There was under Soviet socialism an attempt to mobilize Thymos as was
shown by the picture of `distinguished workers' on the factory gates or
university institute and this certainly worked to some extent during the
twenties and thirtees - it was not because of Stalinist repression that tens
of thousands of Komosolsk youth moved to the Urals to build the Chelyabinsk
steelworks - it was because they were sacrificing themselves for the
revolution and seeking to distinguish themselves. Of course, the
Stakhanovite movement was motivated by this aim to use thymos to enhance the
production.
However, if you are living in a society in which there is a constant
widely felt lack of consumption-articles which some (party bosses) have and
some have not and where there is little popular participation in the state
which divides consumption-articles people are wont to feel that distinction
has to be translated in more consumption articles. (In the USSR ministers,
of course, didn't get paid as much as say workers on the Baikal Amur
Magistral in Siberia but the minister did have a limousine, his own
hospital, shops etc. while the railway worker had to wait twelve years to
buy a Lada and his wive had to stand in a line every evening).
The ancient Athenians would well have understood this - in Athens
the popular assembly decided on the distribution of power (including
economic power) in the city and, of course, the Athenians had slaves to do
boring and heavy work, so that the citizens could pursue excellence in the
eyes of his fellow-citizens.
This would mean that as long as the world is still a realm of
scarsity the inevitable way to pursue thymos is acquiring material goods -
but, since we increasingly dispose of mechanical slaves to do the drudgery
for us - we could theoretically soon step back to a society like ancient
Athens where excellence is pursued for distinction and not for reward
(which, obviously, Marx meant with communism).
As regards Sanderson's posting note that capitalism may as much
stiffle innovation as enhance it - capitalism has a monopolistic tendency
and monopolists are wont to hold back technological innovations which may
threaten their hold on a market. The prime force for fundamental
techological innovation this century has not been capitalism per se but the
military/industrial/research complex, supported by the state. Also, and even
more importantly, `pure' capitalism which is not protected against itself by
a spate of social legislation by the state: for example against firing of
employees on the spot, will result in a sullen, unmotivated labour-forces
which will sabotage the orders of `them'. (the managers) whenever they are
able to. There is abundant research on productivity of labour in the UK (or
developping countries) which demonstrates this.
Thus, capitalism is walking on cruches provided by the state: now
that ever more companies are trying to throw away these cruches by `global'
production it is pretty unsure whether technological innovation or high
productivity can survive.
The only answer to protect capitalism against its own tendency
towards abysmal labour-relations, low expenditure on education and, thus, a
lowely skilled, unmotivated and therefore low productive labour-force would
probably be a global social security-system and that's likely what we are
going to see in the future. (You can not have an unskilled and unmotivated
labourer using very expensive and complicated machines).
Although many will now accuse me of undue optimism I still think
they should read K. Polanyi's classic `The great transformation' on the
inability of capitalism to sustain its own growth without support from the
state and the growing ability of the capitalists to recognize that the
system can only survive with the support of the state.
Dr. R.J. Barendse
IIAS Leiden/RSPAS Canberra
Peace Research Centre
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Tel: +61-6-2492259 (Wk)
Tel: +61-6-2675324 (Hm)
Fax: +61-6-62490174