Looking back in my parish magazines (St.
Peter’s Loughborough) in 1977, I find the conclusions expressed by Tim Jackson’s book debated there at some length. Why weren’t we listened to then? One of the problems was terminology. The language of worth, wealth, and affluence had been hijacked to refer almost exclusively to what could be measured in money terms. Tim gets over this with a less compromised term: ‘shared prosperity’. Prosperity is about things going well for us: in accordance with our hopes and expectations. In poorer countries, economic growth clearly is still necessary for prosperity, and the statistics confirm this; but in the developed countries life expectancy, access to education, feelings of contentment, and any other index of ‘going well with us’ do not continue to rise as the economy grows still further. The book quotes striking statistics. No surprise to some; but confirming it scientifically will make a lot of difference to sceptics and to interests vested in the status quo.
Tim sympathetically expounds the conventional view that economic growth is essential for human well-being, and tests its validity. If material commodities are indeed vital for social functioning, enough is never enough. That’s a recipe for growing anxiety. Production generates wages to spend on commodities, providing profit and enabling greater production. At the same time greater labour efficiency (bringing larger profits) either drives yet more production or leads to unemployment, and so to a loss in wages, either to save (as capital) or to spend on the goods produced. The whole system works because it grows. It is unstable when it stops growing, so must grow for ever! On a finite planet! To the detriment of altruism and social concern, the institutions of consumer society favour the relentless pursuit of individualism and novelty – necessary to keep the system from collapsing.
For sustainable stability, a whole raft of policies is needed, says Tim, to strengthen communities and build social capital – public spaces, green jobs, less geographical labour mobility, lifelong learning… Tighter regulation of advertising, stronger trading standards, a reversal of the practice of built-in obsolescence, opportunities for people to flourish by using their capabilities for the common good; in short, recognition that resources are limited and we must plan to make better use of them. To quote Barack Obama, ‘We will be called upon to take part in a shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.’ We must establish sustainable targets and emission budgets; reform the tax system; make room for the poorer countries to grow and flourish; invest in infrastructures which promote economic activity with low footprint; tackle inequality; dismantle the culture of consumerism.
Tim does not explore how the restriction of advertising might affect communication networks which at present depend on it. The spiralling effect of wars and the arms trade is not considered, and neither is the global monetary system, based on debt and speculation. I think there are further assumptions which must ultimately be challenged.
I was struck by the parallels between two of humanity’s greatest creations – god and money.
We have worshipped them, built power bases (religion and economics), which we have regarded as supernatural, and used them to excuse ourselves from responsibility for our actions (religious wars, ‘market forces’). They are both excellent creations: vital tools, but ugly masters.
I looked up Tim’s 2007 Conference talk Where on Earth will it End?’ (Sofia 85 September 2007): ‘Tim Jackson argues that consumerism is a false “theodicy”, a doomed attempt to come to terms with the existence of suffering and evil in our lives.
To counter it we need to understand it and build alternatives’. We must help our politicians to listen.
David Paterson is a SOF Trustee and runs the Oxford SOF group.