In the first blog entry about isms I recommended the learning of isms. In the second entry I wrote informally about one ism, capitalism, not that capitalism is a privileged ism but rather because I reside within and participate in capitalism. Further, I have recently encountered several provocative articles related to capitalism and production.
Here in this third entry I wish to urge our critical study of isms. I notice that my neighbor Leon Waninger, whose note follows the second entry, is already thinking.
What questions might structure our further inquiry into capitalism? I’ll begin with Leon’s response and then add some of my own.
1. The predicted revolution of manufacturing in which fewer and fewer workers are needed (thanks to 3-D printing and robots) gives us a a big issue: how do we who traditionally belong to the worker class provide for ourselves and family if there aren’t jobs?
2. One might ask the question in another way: Inasmuch as there won’t be jobs for workers, will their support have to come from other sources?
3. Is the current tendency to measure happiness rather than wealth generation early evidence of a paradigm shift in dealing with a new reality?
4. It is rather common to hear the word greed associated with the production/banking complex. What is the difference between the high demands of production success and greed?
5. I suggested in the second entry that Marx-styled class warfare has not occurred partly because the large middle class is provided with (at a price) a large array of consumer goods, entertainment options, medicine, etc. that keep them contented. How can we, who live in this middle class not sell our souls for a mess of pottage?
6. Which social policies regarding production/banking should we support? The policies typically gravitate toward two areas: regulation and taxation.
7. A moral question. In a capitalistic society, am I my brother’s keeper?
One more entry on isms tomorrow. A good one.