mutual responsibility – Mutual Responsibility

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis in our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society.

The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence.

Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate.

All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”

– Albert Einstein, 1949

A Mutually Responsible Economy?

In essence, we already know what a mutually responsible economy looks like. It is the economy that exists within the family. In the family, each person operates according to need and merit. There is the mother, father, children, and the extended family. Each operates according to a particular role: The baby, the mother, the father, grandparent, etc.

These roles then are further broken down. The baby is, “helpless,” “precious,” “in need of protection.” The father is perhaps the “bread winner,” the mother, “the caregiver,” etc. To contemplate what form an economy based on mutually responsibility would look like, where each seeks to provide for others, it is probably best to start with something we know.

Obviously, all families don’t act in a mutually responsible way. And an economy based on mutual responsibility doesn’t mean, “Shangri-La.” After all, a family can provide each other with what they need and still have disagreements. But a family that operates cohesively is a family that operates with mutual responsibility, where each contributes to the family and is supported by the family.

According To Need And Merit

The family operates according to need and merit. For instance, everyone in the family needs shelter, food, and socialization. But if the son, 15, goes to the father and says, “Dad, I’m about to turn 16. Will you buy me a car when I get my driver’s license?” then the father has a calculation to make: “Is buying my son a car according to need?” After all, the family has a car, possibly multiple cars. Does the son really need a car?

But then there is merit. The father could see that a car is a status symbol, a rite of passage, etc. and then place a condition: “I will give you a car if you do X and Y.” So the family operates according to need but also according to merit in order to provide each other what is needed.

But how can this example of the family apply towards the creation of an economy that exists in relation to everyone, and not just the family which is naturally tied together, where each member from birth or through desire wants to be together?

The Need For A Mutually Responsible Economy

As the above quote from Einstein says, each person in society is tied to all the others. However, although we are tied to one another, each needing all the others in order to receive his or her needs; we do not view these ties as beneficial. Therefore, our economy is structured around the pursuit of the individual and not the pursuit of society as a whole.

But if each did perform their role, their self-calculating role, where each provided for others only in order to acquire one’s needs—and this worked—who would complain? The problem is that this path no longer produces gain. Today economic hardships are increasing. The economic system we have built, according to personal benefit, no longer operates in a way where each generation can build upon the accomplishments of the last, where equality grows, and inequality fades.

Applying Need And Merit To The Economy

When it comes to need and merit in relation to the general economy (i.e., everyone), it should be becoming increasingly more apparent why such a system should hold great possibility. It has been reported, for instance, that nearly 1/3 of all food produced today is thrown away. In correlation, nearly 600 million die a year due to malnutrition and hunger.

If an economy operated like a family, according to need and merit, then no one would go hungry. After all, each person has the need for food, for shelter, for healthcare, etc. so excess food would be given to those who have the need for it. But then what would happen to such things like competition? Wouldn’t competition shrink to nonexistence if such a system were to be put into place? With mutual responsibility, what is to become of those who are stronger, smarter, perhaps more privileged; are they to simply now receive everything the same as those who are perhaps weaker, lazier, not as smart, etc.?

This is where merit can be applied. However, before merit can be accurately applied, first the need for an integral view, to view the economy, the global economy, as a system, as parts in a chain or cogs in a wheel, is first needed.

The Need For New Education

If everyone in society were taught about their natural reliance upon others, that labor is divided so that goods and services can be made available more easily, that society works best when work is done for the benefit of society, then the idea of mutual responsibility would seem like a natural necessary conclusion. Moreover, the need to develop a mutually responsible global economy would also be apparent given the reliance that each nation has upon all the others or their daily survival.

In regards to equality, need, and merit, a mutually responsible society would treat all members of society equally. For instance, given that each role in society is needed, from janitors to politicians; each role would be treated equally because each role would be seen as pivotal for society’s continued operation.

Equality then could be achieved through merit being applied in a new way. For example, instead of paying certain members of society more for doing more skilled work, social merits could be given instead. After all, the one who does more skilled work than one who does less skilled work still has the same needs and the extra merit that this more detailed work demands could easily come through societal honors, thereby creating economic equality while still providing merit for such work.

Also, in regards to competition, in a mutually responsible economy it would still exist. The form would only change: Instead of competing to profit for oneself, a person would compete in order to best benefit society. Equality then could be achieved rapidly and competition would be a driving force for it and the creation of a continually more cohesive and sustainable society.

Image: “i love you and i care for you brother ^_^” by ๑۩۞۩๑~OTH~๑۩۞۩๑ on Flickr.

The Beginning

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Boston, Occupy LA, Occupy New Jersey, occupy… Where did it come from, this notion that for so many became the wind of change? It lifted the hopes and desires of thousands of people and blew them toward Liberty Plaza that for three months became home to a new society – the Wall Street society. Whatever it was that triggered this movement, it was fast and powerful, and grew to be a unique, historic phenomenon that America had hardly seen before. It was as if some invisible force was tugging at people’s hearts, pulling them into the whirlpool of the events instilled by their aspirations for social justice, security, and ultimate freedom, the freedom to simply be. What was this force and is it still present?

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a protest movement which began on September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park (located in New York City’s Wall Street financial district), it was initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. The protests were against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations—particularly from the financial services sector—on government. The protesters’ slogan We are the 99% refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protests in New York City have sparked similar protests around the world. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, “Occupy Wall Street”)

The movement was inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the Spanish acampadas. The protesters vowed not only to end the “monied corruption” of the country but to also stand for social justice all around the globe: “We will grow stronger in our solidarity and we will be heard, not just in New York, but in echoes across the world.” (NYCGA)
It took approximately two months for the protests to spread across the country, with new “campsites” popping up in state capitals and in smaller cities and towns, in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. According to Internet resources, in a few short weeks, OWS engaged in more than 900 meet-ups in 900 cities across the country. It even went international with Occupy sites in Australia, London and other prominent cities.

The movement that began as a small band of protesters in Zuccotti Park, gained endorsements from major unions and progressive leaders as well as some influential politicians. The Wall Street movement prompted comments from President Barack Obama and drew political remarks from overseas. An Iranian leader said this surge of protests in the US was a reflection of a serious problem that he predicted would ultimately topple capitalism in America. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the United States is in a full-blown crisis because its “corrupt foundation has been exposed to the American people.”

During its first three weeks, OWS was ignored by mainstream media, while independent television and radio stations kept flooding the place, running interviews with the Liberty Plaza dwellers: the organizers, protesters, onlookers, tourists, professors, students, police, the homeless and even the “grass” smokers who moved into the western side of the park. Occasional clashes, arrests and violence did occur, but for the most part, everybody was behaving reasonably well and people were watching each other with curiosity and mutual expectations.

The OWS organizers avoided structured leadership in order not to get “hijacked” by government agents and opportunists serving their own private agendas. While many Americans insisted that the protesters needed to make a list of demands, outline their principles and establish a well defined power structure, the Onion Press, a spoof news network, insisted in their own, somewhat sarcastic perspective, to showcase Americans’ inability to cope with life:

“The protesters need to unify around a shared agenda with precise policy goals so I can begin paying no attention to them whatsoever,” said Tulsa, OK poll respondent Kaye Petrachonis, echoing the thoughts of millions across the country. If they don’t have a clear power structure organized around specific demands first, then I’ll never be able to completely tune them out due to a political conflict of interest or an inability to comprehend complex, detailed economic concepts. These people really need to get their act together.” Once Occupy Wall Street has a concrete set of objectives in place, the majority of Americans said they would go back to waiting for the sluggish economy to recover while blindly accepting things the way they are.”

Since OWS started, it has been viewed as a serious and un-nerving event by some and a joke by others, a kind of Halloween party or “hormonal revolution”. But most of the Zuccotti Park visitors seemed to be genuinely concerned if the movement was going to live or die, and their sympathy leaned towards the occupants. There was a pronounced fear of losing the human connection that Liberty Plaza was so heavily saturated with. Such was the gravity of it that hundreds and sometimes thousands of them returned there daily – to get that additional dose of camaraderie, with its rejuvenating energy that was coming from natural reciprocity, bountiful handshakes and smiles. Walking around casually chatting with strangers who suddenly felt like family, dropping in on a group conversation, dancing to the lively beat of Brazilian drums, eating food fresh from the field kitchen, working as a “human mic”– all of this became part of the Wall Street society’s daily routine, and people were drawn to it like moths to the flame, regardless of their impression of it.

What stood out is that despite its seemingly chaotic nature, the WS society was living, working, and breathing in unison. At first, it looked like a “rebellion of hormones”, but the longer it lasted, the harder it became to dismiss the presence of an emerging new entity, which drew people in, closer and closer, until they’d begin to feel inseparable from this diverse, strange, and colorful organism, where everyone was a vital and crucial part.

Why now?

As Joseph Stiglitz said, “The economic crisis presents us with a unique opportunity to invest in change.”
If we analyze crises taking place in each country today, it is easy to see that at the root of them lies social, economical, and political injustice, caused by greed. It is hardly news. These vices have been plaguing human history for thousands of years. So why is there such unrest now, why is it global, and why is everyone protesting simultaneously?

The answers can be found in the structure and evolution of human nature, claims Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell in The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (Free Press, 2009). They say that as narcissists, we put ourselves in the center, and “grade” everyone else according to the benefit they may bring to us. This is how we connect to the world, through the spectacles of self-entitlement. However, this is precisely how we must not function if we are to succeed in an era of globalization, when the world is interconnected and interdependent. According to Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, in order to succeed, we must want to benefit those to whom we are connected to just as much as we wish to benefit ourselves.

So it follows that as one people, we must face the facts: the future of the human race requires the cooperation of all its members. Reality dictates that we declare our interdependence. In a nutshell, “The pursuit of happiness is not a solitary goal. We are connected, and so is our joy.” (James H. Fowler, Political and Social Scientist)

Tag: mutual responsibility

What Would A Mutually Responsible Economy Look Like?