A convenient truth
Is there an alternative to a society that pursues happiness through materialism and consumption? Martin Wilkinson writes about a booklet that offers a bold vision for the future
In recent powerful statements, Quakers in Britain have committed themselves to reducing the damage we do to the planet by use of carbon fuels and to working for greater economic equality. Both of these concerns are rooted in hundreds of years of Quaker inspiration and experience. But it has not been easy to see the connections between these goals, or to know how society can move towards them.
In September 2014 the Fabian Society published a booklet – A Convenient Truth: A better society for us and the planet by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett – which links these two together in new ways, and suggests how we can move towards a better, healthier, more equal and more sustainable way of living.
Sustainable wellbeing
The booklet reminds us of the facts about global warming and other threats to our environment. These are known by most Quakers and largely accepted by politicians, at least in Britain. But many people seem not to believe them and are not willing to make the necessary changes to their lives. The reason may be that most people think that our way of life, with its pursuit of satisfaction through consumption and economic growth, is the summit of human achievement. In doing so, they overlook the many failures of our society: high levels of mental illness, stress, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and lack of trust and engagement with one another. They cannot see a better way ahead. Restrictions on consumption of energy and ‘stuff’ are simply seen as threats to happiness.
This booklet shows there is another path, a way of moving towards environmental sustainability which would simultaneously bring real improvements in human wellbeing.
In it we are reminded of the research which the same authors presented in The Spirit Level, showing that – at least in the richer countries – human flourishing is no longer helped by greater income and wealth. Instead, it depends on making a social environment where people relate to one another with more trust and cooperation. And that is possible only where incomes are more equal.
Wealth and worth
In more unequal societies outward wealth becomes the measure of inner worth, while status and social position are assumed to be indicators of intelligence and ability. The larger the income differences the stronger the impression that some people are extremely important and others are almost worthless.
This perception is, of course, diametrically opposed to the fundamental insight of Quakerism – found in parts of other world faiths – that all people are of equal worth, and our duty and delight is to look for the qualities of God in them.
In a fragmented and atomised society, with status differences augmented by bigger material differences between people, we are, inevitably, more prone to status anxieties and worries about the impression we create in the minds of others. This feeds directly into consumerism as we try to communicate our ‘worth’ to each other by clothing ourselves in the symbols of money, status and success. Hence, inequality makes money and possessions even more important. It is this drive to possess and consume more and more that leads inevitably to destroying the health of our planet.
In more equal societies, by contrast, social dysfunction in its many forms (including status anxiety, mistrust, violence, drug and alcohol abuse) is reduced. Health and wellbeing – of both individuals and communities – is increased. Community life is stronger and people are much more likely to feel they can trust each other. Populations become more public-spirited and have a stronger sense of the public good. If the modern world is to move towards an environmentally sustainable way of life, it means acting – as never before – on the basis of the common good, indeed the good of humanity as a whole.
Equality to sustainability
So, the ‘convenient truth’ of the title is this: the change that is needed to defend the planet from climate change, pollution and resource depletion is the same change that is needed for us to live healthier and more rewarding lives as individuals in community. The necessary change is: to reduce the differences in income, wealth and power between people.
Easy to write, but how can these changes be made when they will be resisted by the richest and most powerful people in the country?
Spreading good information is essential: most people do not realise how unequally money is distributed in Britain, or that things are different – and very much better – in many other countries. At a very basic level, people are in favour of greater equality and fairness. We all need to realise that our increasing levels of inequality are not inevitable; they are recent, very harmful and can be changed.
What matters most for reducing inequality is the strength of progressive politics as a countervailing voice in society. Sometime during the late 1970s the political left lost its conviction that a better form of society was possible and left the way open to neoliberalism. It is now urgent that progressive forces in society should clarify an inspiring view of a future society which is not only environmentally sustainable, but in which the real quality of life is better for the vast majority.
Economic democracy
The booklet gives a number of practical ways for government and people to move towards greater economic equality. As well as tackling tax havens, tax avoidance and redistribution, pride of place goes to extending democracy into our economic institutions as a way of reducing income differences even before tax. Many EU countries already have legislation for employee representatives on company boards and remuneration committees. But the democratisation of the economy needs to be a publicly recognised and positive political objective, advocated and defended by all progressive politicians as the next major step in human emancipation.
A Convenient Truth suggests ways of ensuring a gradual transfer of power from external shareholders to systems of employee democracy – including employee owned companies and cooperatives. The aim is not only to show what greater equality does to strengthen community life, or what economic democracy does to improve social relations at work: it is also to create of a society in which people use increases in productivity to give us more time for friends, family and community rather than feeding the consumerism which so threatens the environment.
What is exciting is that there are ways of improving the real quality of our lives while also moving towards sustainability. What this booklet has to say needs to be brought into the mainstream of political conversation, and the run-up to the election is a good place to start.
A Convenient Truth: A better society for us and the planetby Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Fabian Society, ISBN: 9780716306382, £9.95.
The booklet is downloadable without charge from www.fabians.org/publications/a-convenient-truth
For further information:
www.quaker.org.uk/news/news-release-low-carbon-future-quakers
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