Much of our political and social dogma consists in just two basic assumptions: that personal freedom is good and that economic growth is good. Both democracy and capitalism are based on giving us more personal freedom, by giving us more choice over our own politics and how we spend our money, and more economic growth, by stimulating competition, production and spending.
Yet each of the two unchallenged mantras (that personal freedom is good and economic growth is good) can be easily undermined by practical research and luckily for us someone has done that research for us.
The curse of personal freedom:
The ability to make our own decisions and not be supressed by anything more powerful than ourselves is seen as perhaps the most basic goal of western society: If we have choice then we will be happy because we will be able to opt for whichever choice benefits us the most. This idea has led us into a world where we have almost infinite choice is every area of our lives. We can choose from thousands of brands of clothing and hundreds of mobile phones, we can also choose our own religion and sexual preference. However, the American psychologist Barry Schwartz has flipped this all on its head and argued that choice actually brings unhappiness.
He claims that the more we have to choose from the higher our expectations are. The higher our expectations, the more difficult it is to make us happy. I may have the choice of hundreds of mobile phones but whichever one I choose I will always be wondering if another was better. If my new phone is anything but perfect I only have myself to blame because with so much choice out there I should have found the right one. Schwartz is not naïve and he recognises that a lack of choice is also a bad thing. He argues that the wealthiest in society suffer from too much choice whilst the poorest suffer from too little.
If my hasty five lines haven’t convinced you then just watch the man in action and I guarantee you will come round: The Paradox of Choice.
The Cost of Money:
Overall economic growth is the standard cure-all solution trotted out by every politician regardless of the problem. It is thought that wealth and productivity will solve our problems yet research suggests that the average affluence of a nation is not important. Instead the deciding factor is the wealth gap between the richest and poorest. The wider the gap between the highest earners and the lowest the more social problems we will face. In their book The Spirit Level, Richard G Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, show that there is a direct correlation between almost every social ill and the wealth gap. They also show that not only does the correlation exist but that it is the inequality that causes the problems and not the other way around.
Once again, if my mini-paragraph on the matter is not enough to woo you into dropping the basis of capitalism (and it would be surprising if it was) then have a read for yourself. The book is on Amazon here, and Polly Toynbee from the Guardian has done a nifty review of another of Wilkinson's books here.
One and the same?
Each of these two reassessments of our most basic political thinking can stand alone. However, it may also be the case that the ideas complement one another. If both choice and social inequality cause problems then perhaps they are really part of the same root problem.
Wealth and choice are inextricably linked in the modern world. The more money an individual has the more choice he or she has over how to spend their time, where to live, what to eat, which car to drive etc. Thus, countries with a higher level of social inequality will have some people who have loads of choice and more who have (relatively) very little. Wilkinson and Pickett have shown that inequality leads to unhappiness and Schwartz has shown how. Inequality of wealth leads to inequality of choice, and inequality of choice results in people burdened by the curse of too much choice and people burdened by the curse of too little.
Personal freedom and economic growth are achieved through choice and inequality and it is these two things that together plague our world.
