The wonderful Fran Lebowitz, one of my favourite human beings, in The Observer today "Human beings are not good enough for Socialism." This has long been my view. It's a great idea in theory but we're just not sufficiently evolved as a species to enact it.
EXACTLY
People also said that we’re not good enough for democracy. That isn’t true, either
It’s an economic/political theory *created by* human beings.
"Enacting" socialism would require authoritarianism both to implement and to maintain, since it is counter to basic human nature. That will remain the case no matter how "sufficiently evolved" we get.
And how is capitalism going in this regard? No authoritarianism?
what a miserable view of human beings that is
I think it's a fairly modest and realistic one. I think people are the greatest fun, just not equipped to build Jerusalem.
I think we are naturally cooperative and social creatures, crammed into a system that makes us miserable.
I don't know about naturally (there's been a fair bit of bloodlust and human sacrifice after all) but yes I think we are on the whole decent creatures too.
We are, but people like you just keep making excuses.
Apparently, humans aren't even good enoigh to DEFINE it, because literally no one is asking for public ownership of the means of production.
Libertarian forms of socialism foster positive aspects of human nature, according to research. For example, workers are found to be more satisfied in worker cooperatives relative to other companies in the same industry. The feeling of having more control in the workplace where so much time is spent
contributes to mental wellbeing. Organizational participation is linked with productivity and satisfaction. Worker-owned firms enhance psychological ownership, increasing motivation and commitment at work. The alignment of incentives also boosts productivity as workers have a stake in the business.
youtube.com/watch?v=jytf...
I think that different people mean different things by "socialism". Full "everybody shares with everyone else freely"? Not going to work with human nature. Something like a strong safety net? Definitely doable. Worker ownership of the means of production? Has challenges, but may be viable.
Social and worker ownership is viable according to research. Worker-owned and cooperative businesses match or exceed traditional companies in productivity, employment stability, firm survival, and worker satisfaction. Municipal ownership has also been found to deliver positive outcomes.
Though the big challenge with any of those is how you raise seed funding, given that the venture capitalists won't provide it if they don't get to own the resulting company.
It's the trying that counts.
The thing that makes the most sense to me is that socialism is real, but it doesn’t scale beyond 150 or so people. That seems to be the outer limit in terms of interpersonal trust bonds.
The Danes have had some version of socialism for over 65 years and have still managed to build one of the most valuable companies in the history of mankind. Novo Nordisk is literally more valuable than the rest of the Danish economy.
Denmark is capitalist w/ a strong social welfare state (aka, social democracy) Socialism (which is democratic by definition) = worker/citizen ownership of resources & means of production. The US & UK used to be much more like Denmark, but we see what happens when a few elite control resources.
I immediately thought, “But what about the Scandinavian countries? Are they more ‘evolved’ somehow?”
Yes, a bit. But all the Scandinavian countries are seeing a rise in far-right parties. A few years ago ALL of them had woman leaders; now only two do. When the elite control the resources, they control the politics; this is happening all across Europe now. The best leaders during COVID were 1/
all women-- it was splashed all across international media. Since then, every single one of those women leaders has been hounded/targeted/harassed or voted out of office. The War Against Women is global, & it's reached Scandinavia now. 2/2
The Danes with Novo Nordisk and the Norse with Equinor are the honestly the worst. They create enormous wealth to support a welfare state within their borders, while contributing to the exploitation and destruction of the rest of the world outside...
Fran Lebowitz is not one of my favorite human beings. She led the (mercifully unsuccessful) fight against a cigarette ban in New York restaurants, stating frequently she thought secondhand smoke was a fraud. She seemed incapable of empathy for those sensitive to smoke.