Economics and civilisation

Abstract

The globalisation of the world economy has left governments less powerful and threatened cultures with homogenisation. The Huntington thesis – that the world is now divided into rival civilisations and that they are likely to be the source of the next round of world conflicts – may seem weak in the light of this. In fact many people fear that economic efficiency will produce a single culture and, because it will be dominated by hotly competing corporations with little restraint, will threaten civility itself. R.G. Collingwood even argued that economics as a practical science threatens civilisation by its very existence. This paper argues that, if one takes seriously Collingwood’s own distinction between wealth and riches, and if a co‐operative economy can be made to flourish, civilisation can readily survive. Wealth in these terms is a community resource which frees up human possibilities, riches are personal barricades and a source of power, and we can understand how to maximise wealth without creating unnecessary riches. In these terms the three main competing civilisations – that of the West, that of Islam, and the Chinese civilisation which is exemplified, for instance in Taiwan, may well survive and remain distinct. They represent basic human choices. For one can have societies in which the major focus is on individuals, societies in which it is on the community as a whole, and societies in which it is on families, social groups, churches and other institutions which comprise civil society.

Citation

Armour, L. (1999), "Economics and civilisation", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 26 No. 12, pp. 1455-1491. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068299910247163