ABSTRACT
This book should start in a sensible fashion; but where? In what sort of mood should it commence? What is the time and where is the place that we begin from?
We could begin in a mood of contentment, perhaps even joy. Things, on the whole, appear fine for those of us who live in the west. In fact we have never enjoyed so many goods and opportunities. There are some problems with the world... but domestically progress seems stable if only wages for labour can be cut to ensure a competitive product, etc. John Kenneth Galbraith has recently analysed the mood of the influential groups in the US and Europe in terms of a Culture of Contentment (1992), warning that such a culture is short-sighted, and is detrimental to long term social stability and health. In particular he argues that the economically fortunate and those aspiring-to-be have a strong electoral position (since those who are not gaining from the system tend not to vote), and control large portions of the media; they oppose public expenditure except where they personally stand to gain; they attack attempts to regulate corporate raiders, property speculators or junk bond dealers, yet if disaster strikes, as when a bank fails, they demand immediate action. The contented seem to believe that others in society only fail for lack of effort, or for deficiencies of their constitution such as low IQ, and thus argue that payments for welfare and public infrastructure should be reduced in real terms. This contentment places future social harmony horribly at risk. It involves a collective refusal to look seriously at the problems of the discontented.
