Something I have been wondering about lately is what came first, individualism and a lack of connection with the natural world or capitalism? Are they both cause and symptom of each other? Can we shift one of these societal values without also taking action to change the others?
I have been thinking about this because it is clear to me is that the private sector will not be genuinely sustainable as long as the current capitalistic structures that make up mainstream society stay in place. There needs to be a fundamental shift in what is seen as the purpose of business away from profit and towards positive social and environmental change (note that I do not mean companies should be unable to make a profit - however, this should come secondarily, not primarily in terms of company mission). I do not know a lot about them, but benefit corporations seem like a good framework for this. So how do we get entrepreneurs to embrace these structures?
I have never taken a business class before, but I am curious as to how the way that they are taught could be restructured to address this narrative, and if having collectivism and environmentalism inherent in education earlier would decrease the amount of people going into business to make profit in the first place.
Hi Sophia, I love your thought about with all majors (even business classes), to have classes that teach environmental issues and the collectivism mindset within their curriculum so that people in any and all career fields have the same morals when it comes to environmental issues.
Philosophies of business has changed a lot throughout the past 300 years very rapidly. These changes are brought by rapid advances in industrialism and technology, we now have to recon with the changes we created in the past and adjust accordingly. It is terrifying to think that business philosophies of extraction are still being used today to ruin the environment and we have very little control over these actors.
I really reccomend the book "Caliban and the Witch" by Sylvia Federici! Really interesting feminist analysis of the roots of capitalism. I have a copy you are welcome to borrow :)
I think your train-of-thought is really interesting! I agree that currently, most (if not all) businesses' main goal is to obtain as much profit as possible, therefore causing the corporations to ignore sustainable practices as they do not bring enough benefits. Even in the face of government regulations, we see cases like VW resort to cheating in order to avoid investing more money into sustainable technologies. So yes, perhaps a change in education could shift the perception towards business in general and help reduce unsustainable practices in the future.
I've been thinking about a similar thing. I have an uncle who owns a small business and he's always talked about how his mission is to (1) provide opportunities for the people that work there, (2) to provide a service that's needed, and (3) stay financially afloat so they can keep doing that. Obviously that company has no shareholder responsibility, but it raises an interesting question of how some companies can function in anti-capitalist ways within a capitalist society...I can't imagine this is the dominant conversation in Sauder, so I am curious what the analysis of the purpose of the capitalist structure they study is!
Thank you for your post Sophia. I have been learning about capitalism and the systematic harms it has brought to our society. However, I have never connected it to individualism. Now I think about it, the main mechanism of capitalism is exploiting the poor and put that wealth into rich people's pockets. The system is optimize individual wealth and happiness rather than a collective good. Nevertheless, capitalism has been ingrained into our society and to change it requires a change in value. I do think a lot of people are realizing the fundamental flaws of capitalism and are willing to change. I agree B-corp is a good start, and it is also a way to show society the possibility to value collective good.
Great post, it makes you stop and think about where to adjust our system. Be happy that you haven't had the exposure to business classes before ;) Just today I read up on the history of presidents in Argentina. The majority was rather centre left (I know that they were far from ideal as well) but the last president was pro market and pro neo-liberalism. Guess where he went to study - a business school in the US...
This post was really thought-provoking! It’s also interesting that you brought up business education: there haven’t been any serious proponents of laissez-faire ideals in quite some time, and externalities are studied in some detail, but you’re absolutely right that environmentalism needs to be emphasized.
Great post! I agree that businesses should prioritize making positive social and environmental changes.