To: <WinWinWorld@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [WinWinWorld] The Economics of the Future
John, this review from an old TRANET newsletter fits with you ideas of money.
Bill
THE FABLE OF L¹HOMO ECONOMICUS is destroyed by Dominique Temple and Mireille
Chabal in La Réciprocité et La Naissance des Valeurs Humaines (Éditions
L¹Harmattan, 5-7 rue de L¹école Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris FRANCE, 1995, in
French). Modern Economics and the EuroAmerican culture are based on the assumed
reality of homo economicus. That is, that the only motivation of humans is
material self-interest. This book examines all cultures throughout history,
including our own modern culture, and demonstrates that human motivations and
human values have been distorted only in the last couple of hundred years, and
more vehemently in the last few decades, to become based on values which are
destroying the humanity and life on Earth. Reciprocity is more fundamental
and more friendly to both humans and nature.
Reciprocity is the antithesis of exchange or selling. Reciprocity, or
³gifting,² has taken on many forms in different cultures. In some it is
imbedded in religion. People produce and distribute goods and services in
celebration of their spiritual beliefs. Their work is a gift to the gods, to
the Earth, and to humanity, without thought of material return. In other
cultures production is for the common good. That is, people see themselves
imbedded in their families and communities. They exist only because of
their relationships to other people and their bioregion. And these
relationships depend on the productive role they play -- how much they can
support and give to society. In still others, material welfare is paramount;
but one gains insurance of her or his material well-being by giving to others.
³To him who gives shall be given.² Each person gains prestige in society by how
much s/he gives. That prestige demands reciprocity to the giver and to the
family of the giver. The more one impoverishes himself in betterment of the
community the more the community is beholden to the giver.
This reciprocity on which almost all cultures are based is uniquely vilified
by neoliberal economic theory which refuses to recognize that production and
distribution can be based on anything but greed and exchange -- giving up
something only to gain something else. This distorted economic theory of
exchange goes well beyond just ³the market.² Economic reasoning has invaded
sociology, education, politics, ethics and the law. Homo Economicus is believed
to base all values and judgments on economicexchange values, what one can gain
materially. It is only in this distorted Western society that reciprocity has
been subjugated to the concept of exchange.
Bronislaw Malinowski, Claude Levi-Straus, Marcel Mauss, Marshall Sahlins and
other anthropologists have shown the deep roots of reciprocity; Aristotle,
Homer, Hobbes, and other political philosophers trace reciprocity from the
Greeks as the base of our Western society; and Hegel, Adam Smith, Durkheim and
Polanyi and other economists, describe reciprocity¹s relevance to the age we
are in. But it¹s the future which really concerns Temple and Chabal. Money,
exchange, and globalism have replaced the human values inherent in reciprocity
with motivations which are leading to social, ecological, economic and political
destruction. Reciprocity exists deep in ourselves, our families, and our
communities; but it is suppressed by our
belief system and its resulting social institutions. We see reciprocity in
President Bush¹s ³thousand points of light², in the burgeoning NGOs around the
world, in volunteerism, in our familles, in our communities, and in many
grassroots social innovations. Our future can be assured only if we release
this constructive force of reciprocity. Or as the authors end this book, ³Si
l¹esclave veut etre libre, il ne lui faut pas seulement différer la mort, mais
dominer sa propre vie par le souce de celle d¹autrui, maitriser la vie avant
qu¹elle ne le condamne a mort.²