Francis Fukayama a leading neoliberal philosopher of the 90s proclaimed that the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era that in fact signalled the end of history as we knew it. While many people make are confused and make fun of his proclamation I think there could have been validity and still could be to what I interpret from his thinking. The 90s were an age where emotions were not boiling over, the non-aligned movement was in decline in the Third World as nations increasingly sought to align themselves with the economic, political and social principles that appeared to make the US the greatest and most powerful nation in the history of the world. The core assumption of the thesis the end of history was that neoliberalism--free markets, deregulation, globalization, free trade and priviatization--would serve to usher in a new age of prosperity.
Social Engineering Adam Smith Style: Retooling the Society so that Success is Defined by Economic Measures Designed to Maximize the Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith sought to reengineer the way society did things, since he felt that the inherent innovative capacity of the people in his society at the time was not effectively being tapped into. The validity of his theories relating to production and consumption has been proven in the events that have followed the economic models he talked about in his book The Wealth of Nations, and his book thus represented a pioneering framework for modern economics. Once the industrial pump was primed at the beginning of the industrial revolution by innovative new technologies that allowed factories to mass produce products that until recently could only be produced in small quantities, exponential growth in human systems soon followed. As labor, technology and capital were synergies the ballooning in the scale and scope of industrial production was made possible. This allowed the creation of the urbanized middle class consumer.
The Rise of Avant Gard
This synergy can be seen in another way--as vortifical momentum--the combining of three major powerhouses of humanity: technology which merged with science in the 19th century, the development of a business class that created an important new organizational infrastructure called the corporate model of governance, and finally the development of new expressions of art through high technology. The visionary modernist thinker Saint-Simon called this the avant gard (Michael Rose The Post-Industrial and Postmodern). In addition to this we can add a fourth major ingredient one that can now be seen as the mass media-promotional complex. The state of the art in our present marketplace is linked to marketing PR and advertising. In a age when "the media" is dubbed by Marshall Mcluhan "as the message", one can see the image of what something is and represents in our minds, as more important than what it actually is. In the World Watch booklet Recasting the Role of Materials in our Lives, it is noted that advertisers have used "insights from the emerging field of psychology to ensure that consumers [are] never satisfied, and linked the consumer's identity to products."
Lowest Common Denominator
Degradation is not isolated from the mentality of the people who drive the system that is degrading the environment. The media's primary utility--and this explains its rise in influence in the last century to become what the Trilateral Commission said was a "notable new source of power"--is to ensure that lowest common denominator drives the marketplace. The media in itself is not inherently predisposed to dumb people down, but rather as a free market mechanism has no real incentive to use its powers of persuasion in a way that could move people to a higher state of awareness, since that has the effect of actually reducing economic consumption. The notion of the lowest common denominator has deep social, economic and environmental implications since the such modes of mental thought relate to the manipulation of the human psyche in ways that we hardly understand.
History Repeats itself
Arnold Toynbee says that in studying the breakdown of civilizations one things stands clear, there was a failure in self-determination--events spiraled out of control because the society was ruled incompetently and humans lost any marginal control of their destinies that they have had. These social disasters usually sprang from a series of moral aberrations which coming on top of one another in close time span, created immense social stresses that were too much for the society's socioeconomic structure to bear (Margaret Rose 11).
So the end of history can have two dramatically different meanings.
1) pessimistic: the end of history from this view brings about the decline and collapse of civilization at that time and place in history, such as the fall of the Roman empire. The end of history here is subjective and ethnocentrically orientated, not global.
2) pessimistic but more globally and contemporarily orientated: In the modern world, we are at a point at which is culturally and socially significant has already been done before. God is dead, life has no meaning and humanity has failed in its futile attempt to find meaning in life. The result is irrationality and even nihilism as people grope with the erosion of justification for a deeper meaning in life.
3) A more optimistic contemporary view sees liberalism and capitalism as having through technology and human ingenuity made history (as we have known it) obsolete. It is thus as Francis Fukuyama says a special time in human history where we emerge at the end of history--a human history defined by the dismal human condition and the often brutal rise and fall of civilizations within humanity. We have progressed to such an advanced state that we can control our destiny as moderns, and thus dominate the world (our reality) like no civilization before with our ideas, our machines and the innovative techniques that spring from them.
On the economic front such notions of self-congratulation are punctuated by the hubric notion that old economic rules now longer apply in the new information dominated economy. There will no longer be economic cycles that are plagued by boom and bust, there will only be an endless stream of greater and greater economic prosperity for as long as the mind's eye can see. We will develop technological quick fixes to mitigate our degradation of nature that have resulted from the industrial processes that have brought us this unparalleled prosperity. We will be able to continue business as usual in our sick modes of addictive rationalization as consumers and producers, within the false economy of fake smiles.
4) The most sober-minded scenario refutes the notions that history is to end. Instead it seeks to imply that if we start to use technology with responsibility and wisdom that humans will no longer be forced to react to history, but in a sense will start to understand the causal factors that lead to the downfall of human civilizations. Technocrats and social scientists will not solve all our problems, but they can be useful in coming up with situational understandings--mastering and deciphering the pattern languages that encode the phenomena of existence--based on empirical calculations that incorporate a holistic and rational analysis of the information that is pertinent to that particular problem. We not limit ourselves to quantitative information, since we increasingly devote time towards achieving a balanced study of the phenomena that determine our existence, for the very necessity of our survival.
The Hierarchy of Power, Verses the Hierarchy of Human Needs Evolving towards Self-Realization and Empowerment
Herbert Maslow's hierarchy:
Self-realization (actual individualization)
Independence
Social
Security
Biological
It is important to note that this pyramid is not the same or reflective of the power hierarchy in its true sense. This pyramid does not imply that materialistic accumulations can lead in themselves to self-realization and individualization. However it must emphasized that material well being is an important of self-actualization, for we are physical beings.
The degradation of our environment both environmentally, emotionally and aesthetically relates to the fact that the conventional thinkers who dominate society's ruling structures are ensnared in a reactionary dynamic. We have sought to seek fulfillment though material accumulation. Although it is good to have a certain level of material affluence so as not to be struggling through life without your basic needs being met, modern society has for the most part assumed that ever more quantities of stuff will make us more happy than our present state leaves us.
Daniel Deudney, who studies security aspects that relate to the environment, says that modern social science has evolved along the lines of delineating reality so that we are virtually prisoners of a frame of thinking that is not only reductionistic in the way we relate to a general systemic understanding of things but also circular as in explaining social phenomena only by social causes. A holistic view of the entire world as a system sees the human interrelationship between nature and society. Therefore social, economic, cultural, political and environmental trends all intermix to form complex variables, which precipitate social and political changes. "This social-social mentality emerged with the Industrial Revolution, which separated us from nature (Robert Kaplan "The Coming Anarchy" The Atlantic Monthly)."
Within living systems things get done (reality happens) by way of self-referential loops that ensure a minimum degree of homeostasis within that system. In order to develop multivariate models (complex models that seeks to measure the interaction of several variables at once) to come up with hypothetical outcomes through a methodological process of elimination must include all variables that exist in nonlinear and even bi-directional interactive pathways of information flow. To exclude these pathways in scientific models is to make these feedback loops linear. Thus they are subject to a series of statistically improbable abnormalities which become more probable as the complexity of the actual, curvilinear, complex living systems that increases in complex to exponential degree, from the simple abstract models that seek to predict the dynamics of those complex systems, which scientist seek to have them mimic. Thus if the modern society does not consider non-linear domains in its attempt to map out and extrapolate present observable social, economic and environmental phenomena into the future, it is of a increasing likelihood that the actual outcome will become even more distant that what is predicted. Of course many say is folly to predict the future, but it is the case that we can understand how present trends may affect the future, and that we have a greater likelihood of hitting the bull's eye, when we consider non-linear domains (incorporate holistic thinking into the decision-making process). If we do not consider the complexity of the system and sometimes we cannot, different studied done by different people in different cultures at different times will give us inconsistent and confusing results.
It’s not [just] the Economy, Stupid!
The modern economy functions not so much to better humanity on the whole, but to facilitate the needs of the hungry human ego. The human ego so enamored to the capitalist marketplace because its worship the fleshy significance of consumption over and above the more intrinsic qualities the would forward the aesthetic and ethical considerations towards the construction of contemporary the social structure. In addition the capitalist marketplace represent a significant tool in the accumulation of power over others in the society.
The development patterns of modern society do not embrace the experience that lies beyond the quantifiable. Media and educational systems give us an increasingly fragmented view of reality, since these systems reflect the specialized needs of the autonomous consumer (this notion of autonomy only superficially applies to consumer behavior and does not apply to us as individuals, since the individual expression is subservient to the consumer identity). In Cities for a Small Planet, Richard Rogers says that "If cities are undermining the ecological balanced of the planet, it is our patterns of social and economic behavior that are the root cause of their development in ways that produce environmental imbalance," not the cities themselves (1998 P1). Indeed in exploring the anatomy of what we now call suburban sprawl--the exodus from the inner city--we see that it reflects the notion that the city is somehow essentially an unlivable creature, so therefore to those that unaware of any alternative to this, the suburban single family model appears as the only viable option.
The paradox is that the Earth's ecosystems are the foundation upon which not only the economy but over lives exist, and yet it is before our very eyes that this fundamental fabric of life is being dismantled by the modern industrial system. The reduction of science into what is essentially a vassal of corporate capitalism has erased sciences previous (although always somewhat dubious) reputation as the objective illuminator of life's mysteries.
Science itself while originally being seen by enlightenment scientists as the methodological delineation of God's universe, in an attempt to understand God, seemed to shed that justification just as technology linked up with science. Previously it was technology which was more associated with a profession of the bourgeoisie class, while it was science that was more a occupation and a hobby of the aristocracy. Science back then was something that existed more for pure knowledge, while it was that inventors tinkered with things to develop new technologies. This is a very ideal conceptualization of science that does not really leave room for the fact that many of these people had a tremendous sense of themselves, and so they often became very self-important, since as scientists they became a very rare and exclusive breed in society, doing many important experiments.
The merging of the science and technology was the inevitable evolution of fate that sprang from the social forces that Adam Smith unleashed in The Wealth of Nations. What we now see as only natural--science and technology as being engaged in a symbiotic relationship--had to happen, since it was required in order that we develop the abstract ideas of science into practical solutions to improve human living conditions. It was at this merging that science began to more obviously serve capitalism rather than serve higher social or spiritual values in society, since it was that the utility of science to the industrializing was based not on knowledge that led to a deeper understanding of life, but on the development of complex theoretical understandings that could be proved through a process of experimentation called the scientific method. It was that such methods proved key to illuminating understandings that inventors used to develop new technologies that dramatically improved the way in which society produced things, thus empowering the burgeoning forces of the capitalism.
Since we despite appearances, act in everyday activities as if we no longer believe in the idea of collective universe unifying spirit, and believe that neither spirit, nature, community creativity and human conscious represent in totality intrinsic values of equal or greater importance than those which are more tangible in our lives, we have no other logical alternative than to relegate those to the backburners of human existence. If the primary and almost exclusive imperative of modern society is that of the marketplace to increase consumption, then one cannot expect that other values would have a real fighting chance of really competing with that foremost value. The frontier mentality still dominates: more throughput in terms of economic production is the primary means by which demonstrate to ourselves that we are progressing in a significant and tangible way. Yet it is increasingly obvious to many that conventional economic indicators and measures do not "capture the full economic contribution of natural capital or the loss of economic value resulting from its degradation."
Money matters in the existing global reality. Many people in the Third World live in a state of absolute poverty, and they would indeed be better off, if they had more money on their pockets. We need food, rest, shelter, social contact--the most basic of Herbert Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, and it takes money to get the goods and services that we need to survive. However it seems that conventional society has trouble distinguishing between basic needs, discretionary needs that can improve the state of our lives and totally wasteful frivolousness needs that merely increase the scarcity of goods available to those who need them most, the absolute poor.
Three in four entering American collegians—nearly double the 1970 proportion—now consider it "very important" or "essential" that they become "very well off financially." A University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart was involved in 16-nation study of 170,000 people. The study concluded that once people were comfortable, more money provided diminishing returns. In America since 1957, per capita income, was $8700 now it is $20,000. So should it follow that we are now twice as happy? Well the happy index seems to have gone down from 35 percent in 1957, to present where it is at 32 percent (David G. Myers Wealth, Well-Being and the New American Dream www.newdream.org).
Has Modernity has Alienated us from those Values that are Most Important in Life?
Erich Fromm's thesis in The Sane Society was that the modern condition has alienated us from those values that are most important in life. He says that our disconnectedness and our obsession with tangible things has led to a deeply repressed spiritual longing. We have become increasingly estranged from ourselves, to such an extent that we know longer really know who we really are, or what we are looking for in life. To those who understand this it is hardly a surprise that since 1957, "the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide rate has nearly tripled, the violent crime rate has nearly quadrupled (even after the recent decline), and more people than ever (especially teens and young adults) are depressed."
What becomes increasingly obvious is that there is a fault line emerging in the American consciousness, that relates to a general approach that lies to see the wrong in two very disparate ways, whenever it most suits us. This is referred to the in the well worn, but still very applicable clique that "we want our eat our cake and keep it too." According to research by Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow 89 percent of the population say "our society is much too materialistic," while at the same time 84 percent wanted more money and 78 percent said is was "very or fairly important" to have "a beautiful home, a new car and other nice things." It is worth noting that this is the same society that elected a president whose slogan was "its the economy stupid." The traditional, conventional thinking person is shrouded in contradiction as their actions are almost never consistent with what they say. We have a tendency--unless corrected with much effort--to see the world with tunnel vision, observing the wrongness of other people's behavior, but not seeing our own with an equal dose of incisiveness.
It is noble to understand that the need to reorient economic indicators and empirical measures of economic activities toward an accurate economy accountability of the true impact of human economic activities, is the most important changes that must occur in order to become truly sustainable. However this noble understanding is obstructed by what Martins Evers of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, says is the choice of reality evaluation schemes that are a reflection of prevailing and underlying social attitudes. These attitudes lead to a civic orientation and a civic consciousness that has an embedded resistance to more enlightened views of the world (Dan Lehocky Conference on Ecological Economics a Success Ozark Sierran May June 1993).
Reality within society is scripted by three primary personality types.
1) Pre-conventional
2) Conventional
3) Post-conventional
The pre-conventional people are those who think in ways that reflect an undeveloped, adolescent view of life, even after they have long since past that period of their lives. They are the ones who are usually unable to make decisions that the society demands of them due to personal inhibitions and social upbringing. Conventional thinking people are those who seek to emulate mainstream values and norms, since that is what the society tells them is right, and they show a reasonable degree of competence in passing the bar here. However they have little conceptualization of any deeper meaning to life. Post-conventional people are those who seek to think on their own free will. They develop world views that are based on a higher consciousness in which they examine human behavior and the essence of life itself. From these understandings they strive to become higher moral and ethical beings, and to consider the implications of how their actions affect the other beings who they co inhabit this planet with.
Most do not consider the contradictions of their behaviors, since it is inconvenient for the society to encourage that level of critical thinking among the people. Adaptability is the major way in which we survive as both biological and social creatures. In the modern world our rapid ability to adapt to changing environments allows us to quickly grow bored with the latest new icon of consumer culture. As modern people living in wealthy societies that are planning the post-industrial age, we quickly aspire to a new level of affluence, only to see that what we set our sights upon as material affluence was simply not enough to sustain our egos. The individual becomes addicted to the material affluence of modern life, and so what once were legitimate material needs, have become increasingly little more than insatiable and superficially driven wants.
For those that say there is more to life than consumption, the growing absurdity of modern life is defined by the fact that we appear to have no reason for living except to consume. It is fair to say that many do consume in search of better existence, but the important question that Alan Durning poses in his book is How Much is Enough? This notion of the good life is increasingly limited to those which they marketplace sees as most productive in terms of producing the stuff that the marketplace wants--stuff which is increasingly marginalizing us from a deeper and more holistic understanding of life. Their supposed value to society (that they themselves as the successful people of the world have a disproportionately significant role in determining) is put under a intense and nagging question mark.
In Beyond the Numbers Laura Mazur says that 25 percent of the world's population consumes 85 percent of the forest products; 72 percent of steel production and 75 percent of energy use. Why? Because it is that minority that tells or defines for the rest of the world what is most valuable in life. Developed countries generate 75 percent of the globe's pollutants (P14). David Wann says that "The preoccupation of the developed countries with material is obliterating both biological and cultural wealth (Deep Design 1996 P3)."
Extended Depth and Perception
Within the greater eye of the holist, nature is seen as the balance of the earth's system operating in balance within the yin and yang of the Tao. The stormy devastation that we perceive from plagues and natural disasters, is seen by the holist as a part of the paradox of life that lies within the struggle of all living beings to maintain physical integrity, for the longest period of time. The chance of being destroyed has ignited a pervasive fear of taking risks that might jeopardize our lives, and this sense seems to have become an even greater obsession in modern times as affluent people become so isolated from the reality of death. This fear driven obsession of death and the inherently unpredictable nature of life has led not only to sheer stupidity and ignorance, which has often caused people to blame their problems on others, but also to seek technology as a way to prevent or at least post-phone our dealing with the reality that we are a part of nature.
We can begin to take the "soft path" by making decisions based on a deep understanding of how the technology we invent affects the world around us. This involves making decisions that put us on appropriate pathways of evolution that start from right-minded, highly reasoned assumptions, that seek to put diverse systems to work towards creating "a sustainable culture that fits nature like a glove." Wann says that the "reactive command and control system" of not only regulatory agencies but much of the environmental movement itself, only serves to misdirect-direct us to try to fix a broken system rather than redirecting our energies to create a lean alternative. Business or politics as usual no longer works. We need a fundamental realignment of our perception of reality. The reason for the current plight of the human condition is not any different than what in essence it was 300 or 3000 years ago, we cling to situation that are driven by inauthentic human perceptions of reality that we feel compelled by the society to believe in. When we do this we are not true to ourselves, but we cling to those ideas that are most comfortable for us. To go against what the prevailing ideological currents say is right and true is usually quite uncomfortable--mentally as well as in cases of extreme effectiveness physically as well--and as creatures of the physical we do not like discomfort.
Sprawl can be seen as a success of the commercial interests in manipulating (or at the very least giving the public that extra little push) the public psyche so as to engage in activities that encouraged economic growth and higher rates of consumption. Global ownership of cars grew 10 fold between 1950 and 1997. Cars account for one-fifth of all American dollars and consumed a full third of US iron, a fifth of its aluminum and two/thirds of its lead and rubber (Recasting the Role of Materials in our Lives P13).