Democracy, Capitalism, and the Conditions of Self-Government

I want to sketch two lines of argument, arguments that have been with me since I was a student. I mention most of the political thinkers I found and still find have some wisdom on these matters. The first line of argument deals with the social and anthropological conditions required for democratic life. The second concerns the structural tensions produced by modern capitalism and the limits these impose on political systems. This is only the briefest outline of an extended argument. The conclusion to the argument sketches might look like this: Modern politics cannot serve the common good or democratic governance because the economic system that organizes contemporary society systematically erodes the social conditions required for both while generating tensions that political institutions are structurally unable to address.

 

I. Social and Anthropological Preconditions of Democracy

Character and the Political Order

Plato argued that political systems reflect the character of the citizens who compose them. In The Republic he wrote that the constitution of a city follows from the constitution of the soul. He wrote that 'the city is the soul writ large.' Political reform therefore cannot succeed if the deeper formation of character is neglected. This insight appears again in Tocqueville’s observation that democratic institutions depend on the moral habits of citizens. Without habits of cooperation and responsibility, democracy loses its substance.

 

Economic Independence and Citizenship

Democracy requires citizens who possess some independence in their economic life. Aristotle pointed out that those who depend completely on others rarely participate freely in political deliberation. Tocqueville noted that the early United States contained a large number of independent farmers and craftsmen who were able to take part in local government, writing that 'local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science.' When economic life becomes dominated by large corporations, many citizens experience work as something controlled by distant authorities. This hollows out the sense of agency and community structures required for active citizenship.

 

Community and Local Association

Democracy depends on stable communities in which citizens encounter one another as neighbors rather than anonymous individuals. Tocqueville recorded that Americans formed countless associations for religious, civic, and social purposes. These associations created habits of cooperation and mutual responsibility. Wendell Berry later argued that such communities depend on stable relations to land and place ('a community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared'). When economic life becomes mobile and centralized, these local structures weaken and citizens lose everyday experience of self-government. Berry writes that

 

Work and Human Dignity

Work is one of the primary settings in which character forms. Simone Weil noted that industrial labor often reduces workers to instruments of a production process organized elsewhere. E. F. Schumacher argued that work should develop human capacities and encourage cooperation. 'Work properly conducted is beneficial not only for the worker but for the whole community,' he wrote. When work becomes purely mechanical or instrumental, individuals experience powerlessness rather than participation. A society organized around such work weakens the habits of responsibility that democratic life requires.

 

 Practices and Virtue

Alasdair MacIntyre argues that virtues develop within practices that contain standards of excellence. Farming, teaching, medicine, and scientific inquiry are examples of such practices. When institutions subordinate these activities to external goals such as profit or measurable efficiency, the internal goods of the practice lose authority. Over time this weakens the moral traditions through which character is formed.

 

Leisure and Culture

Josef Pieper argued that culture depends on leisure understood as openness to truth, beauty, and contemplation. Leisure does not mean inactivity. It means the freedom to encounter reality without the pressure of productivity. 'Leisure is the basis of culture.' When societies organize life entirely around work and consumption, education becomes technical training and culture becomes entertainment. Citizens then lose contact with the deeper questions that sustain political judgment.

 

Psychological Stability and Identity

Christopher Lasch argued that modern consumer society produces a narcissistic personality structure characterized by insecurity and dependence on recognition. Lasch wrote that 'the narcissist depends on others to validate his self-esteem.' Advertising and media encourage individuals to construct identity through consumption and public image. When stable communities and traditions weaken, individuals must constantly rebuild their sense of self. This psychological instability makes sustained civic engagement more difficult.

 

 

Inequality and Political Equality

Economic inequality beyond a certain level undermines political equality. Concentrated wealth translates into influence through campaign finance, lobbying, corruption, and control over media. Even when democratic procedures remain formally intact, the distribution of political influence becomes uneven. The tension between democratic ideals and economic power then becomes a persistent feature of modern societies.

 

II. Structural Tensions of Capitalism and the Limits of Politics

The Logic of Capital Accumulation

Modern capitalism organizes economic life around investment, profit, and so-called “growth.” Wendell Berry put it this way: a corporation can be thought of as a giant pile of money whose only purpose for existing is to get bigger and bigger. Firms must expand and compete  to survive. This dynamic encourages the continual extension of economic logic into new areas of life. Activities once governed by moral or communal considerations increasingly become organized through markets.

A further consequence of this dynamic is that the social position of individuals and communities is never secure. Even in periods of rising wealth, the competitive structure of capitalism produces continual pressure to reduce costs, reorganize production, and search for new sources of profit. Firms that fail to do so risk being displaced by competitors.

This means that economic growth does not necessarily translate into stable social security. Entire industries can disappear or relocate even while the overall economy expands. Workers who once occupied secure positions may find themselves exposed to new forms of competition from technological change, global labor markets, or financial restructuring.

The experience of Western Europe illustrates this pattern. Industrial workers in countries such as Germany during the 1970s and 1980s often enjoyed stable employment, strong unions, and expanding social protections. Despite lower levels of national wealth compared with today, many workers experienced greater economic security than workers in similar occupations today. Since then globalization, technological change, and financial competition have increased pressures on wages, job stability, and working conditions.

The result is a persistent condition of economic insecurity. Even when total wealth increases, individuals must continually compete to maintain their position. Communities and occupations that appear stable in one decade may face rapid decline in the next.

Capital accumulation therefore does not simply generate prosperity. It also generates instability. The system requires continuous competition, and this competition continually reshapes the economic landscape. A society organized around such dynamics cannot easily provide the long-term security that stable democratic communities require.

 

Concentration of Capital

Competition and technological change often favor large firms that can mobilize greater resources. Over time this process produces large corporations and financial institutions with significant economic power. Such institutions influence politics through lobbying, campaign finance, and control of investment.

 

Mobility of Capital

In global capitalism capital moves easily across borders. Firms can relocate production, reorganize supply chains, or shift investment between countries. This mobility limits the ability of national governments to regulate economic activity without risking capital flight.

 

Displacement of Political Conflict

Because structural economic issues are difficult to address politically, public debate often shifts toward cultural and symbolic conflicts. Media systems favor dramatic narratives and personalized disputes rather than structural analysis. Political energy therefore becomes focused on visible controversies while deeper economic dynamics remain less examined.

 

Consumer Culture

Consumer culture stabilizes capitalism by directing dissatisfaction into consumption. Advertising and media encourage individuals to pursue fulfillment through purchasing goods and experiences. Civic identity gradually gives way to consumer identity.

 

Media and Political Perception

Commercial media operate within a corporate system that reward attention and speed. News therefore tends to emphasize events and personalities rather than long-term economic processes. This shapes the way citizens understand political reality.

 

Politics and Structural Limits

Political institutions often respond to the symptoms of economic change rather than its causes. Policies address unemployment, inequality, or social conflict without confronting the deeper dynamics of the economic system.

 

Democratic Politics within Capitalism

Modern democracy operates within an economic framework it does not fully control. Capitalism created the conditions for democratic development but also reshapes the social environment in which democratic politics must function. There is a radical contradiction between democratic culture and capitalism in its current form. It would almost not go too far to say that in today's legislature corporations write any laws pertaining to their pecuniary interests, with some relatively minor exceptions during Democratic administrations.

Ideology

Perhaps the most powerful ideology working today is the illusion that there are no alternatives to capitalism. The overcoming of capitalism – without violent revolution or social chaos – is the principle requirement of our times. 

P. S. 

A first step could simply involve some changes in law. Recognizing the enormous power involved in huge concentrations of wealth made possible by limited liability, legislatures used to require corporation to periodically approve their charters. This would allow periodic reflection and debate on whether a particular corporation was in the public interest. Also all private money must be banned from the election process, eliminating that source of influence. Lobbying should also be forbidden. Some industries would have to be brought under some form of state control, to ensure transparency if nothing else: military-industrial complex, pharmaceutical industry, and a few others others. The mass media would have to be public and independent, subject to strict rules promoting truthful debate and rational dialogue (epistemological bubbles with echo chambers are fascist, whatever the ideology happens to be).  The principle of subsidiarity - that public matters should be handled locally to the extent possible - should be vigorously applied. These measures would be a start to removing the stranglehold of capital over the political system. A system incapable of reform is doomed to failure. 

Important works for me

Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.

Aristotle. Politics. Translated by Carnes Lord. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1977.

Berry, Wendell. What Are People For? Berkeley: Counterpoint, 1990.

Berry, Wendell. The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Edited by Norman Wirzba. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2002.

Ewen, Stuart. Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.

Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. New York: Norton, 1979.

Lasch, Christopher. The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. New York: Norton, 1995.

Kolko, Gabriel. The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900–1916. New York: Free Press, 1963.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. 3rd ed. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.

Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Translated by Martin Milligan. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988.

Marx, Karl. The German Ideology. Written with Friedrich Engels. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998.

Marx, Karl. Early Writings. Translated by Rodney Livingstone and Gregor Benton. London: Penguin, 1975.

Mumford, Lewis. The Pentagon of Power. Vol. 2 of The Myth of the Machine. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.

Noble, David F. America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Pieper, Josef. Leisure: The Basis of Culture. Translated by Alexander Dru. South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 1998.

Pieper, Josef. The Four Cardinal Virtues. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966.

Plato. The Republic of Plato. Translated with notes and interpretive essay by Allan Bloom. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 1991.

Reid, Herbert G. Up the Mainstream: Environmental Ethics and the Technological Society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1976.

Schumacher, E. F. Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

Schumacher, E. F. Good Work. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Trachtenberg, Alan. The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.

Weil, Simone. Oppression and Liberty. Translated by Arthur Wills and John Petrie. London: Routledge, 1958.

Weil, Simone. The Need for Roots. Translated by Arthur Wills. London: Routledge, 1952.

Weil, Simone. Factory Work. Translated by Richard Rees. London: Routledge, 1955.