ABSTRACT
Any strategy for countering the tendencies toward an inegalitarian, rent-based system at both the national and international levels must be realisable, at least potentially. In my concluding comments, I therefore concentrate on the possibilities of heightening mass consumption in a world which is becoming increasingly unstable. Increasing material consumption is triggering an increasing importance of new demands. Future needs are gaining in visibility, as are new “post-materialist” needs. I argue that the satisfaction of such needs requires their embeddedness in collective structures, especially with respect to social security. Preserving capitalism requires its complementation with collectivist structures which many refer to as “socialist” in character.
This also applies to the climate crisis. Degrowth of consumption as felt by private households may be accompanied by increased consumption in relation to capital accumulation at the macroeconomic level. Higher environmental standards work, as do defensive investments in the wake of rising wages. The shift to environmentally safer production thus constitutes no threat to capitalism; in fact, it is the most advanced frontier of capitalist growth.
The new competitiveness of labour from the Global South does not eliminate the marginality of large segments of its population. Preserving capitalism at the centre – and thus relatively autonomous civil societies and a limited role for government – requires the overcoming of marginality in the South. I propose a solution which is, from an administrative point of view, relatively simple. Certainly, it will be difficult to implement, primarily because there is no solidarity among the underprivileged at the global level. The proletarians of the world have not united. They are increasingly distinct in their socio-cultural orientation. Solidarity is no longer an international solidarity of class, but a solidarity oriented to cultural commonality.
This splintering of the global working class along cultural lines cannot be addressed by appealing to the purported progressiveness of particular cultures. However, it can be overcome – at least to some extent – through pragmatism in cooperation for parallel or even shared economic goals. A heterodox political economy must demonstrate that the interests of the underprivileged in the Global South and in the West are not entirely contradictory. On the contrary, they are sufficiently complementary to allow for concerted transnational action.
By arguing in favour of the defence of capitalism, I also reject the widespread criticisms of alienation; a phenomenon which is frequently attributed to capitalism.
