If society prevents people to flourish

Increasingly, people support the idea of an urgent need for a systemic societal change (see the work of Kees Klomp, Kees Vuyk, Michael Sandel). There are basically two forces (see Kate Raworth’s donut model of economy) that drive this need for change. The first is the ecological ceiling that our current society often seems to reach or even overshoot, which is increasingly showing in climate change and a fall of biodiversity. The other force is the crumbling social foundation, causing a rise in social crises (such as inequality, loss of trust in politics, democracy, science) and psychological crisis (including depression and burn out).

How does a capitalist society lead to individual psychological illnesses?

One explanation is offered by Hartmut Rosa who focusses on the speed and acceleration of life. According to Rosa, this acceleration is caused by a societal norm to compete in combination with labor differentiation and specialization. A growing secularization leads people to focus on the life they have now, before death, where the numerous possibilities in life can be overwhelming, leading to a fear of missing out, not being able to enjoy the present moment, and where every choice made entails a rejection of another possibility.

Capitalism held a promise of liberation, a promise of autonomy and self-determination. People would not have to obey to a political or religious power anymore, and would be totally in control, even of nature, including their own bodily features. Acceleration of life through competition initially supported this promise, but it seems the speed of life has become too fast for many. People are simply falling off the wagon. And the principle of competition, although effective in a capitalistic market, may not always be the best principle to make choices in other areas of life such as choosing a life partner, a hobby or concerning your looks or your health. Some people get so overwhelmed, they become burned-out or depressed as they can simply no longer keep up with the demands of society.

But there is a second reason Rosa mentions as a cause of people getting psychologically and emotionally sick from capitalism, which is estrangement, alienation, feeling disconnected. But disconnected from what exactly?

Erich Fromm addresses the psychological problems arising in capitalist societies from a different angle, but comes to a similar conclusion. He beliefs the feeling of being disconnected is inherent to the human condition. Although we are part of nature and subject to natural forces, we are different from animals in that we are conscious (of ourselves, our mortality, time), that we use symbols and language, and that we can use reason and imagination. This made us loose our natural harmony with nature, something Fromm calls our ‘existential brokenness’. Trying to fix this break is what drives human progress.

The art of living according to Fromm is to creatively reconnecting to the world through our actions (homo faber), and through understanding, both intellectually (homo sapiens) and emotionally (homo amans, see Patrick Nullens). We will flourish if we succeed at living creatively, in connection to the world, others and ourselves, and self-actualize in harmony.

Every society will influence the development of their people in such a way that they will start to wish to do what they have to do n order to fit their societal role (this cultural transmission is done mostly unconsciously by parents and school teachers). However, universal ethics and societal ethics do not necessarily overlap. Societal ethics are norms necessary to make a specific society function well. Yet the conflict between societal ethics and universal ethics – meaning norms that stimulate growth and development of every human being – can lead individual members of specific societies to develop defects.

People get sick because their societies are hindering the creative development and expression of the self, their ability to flourish. In a capitalist society, some psychological defects – in the sense that they don’t contribute to well-being - have become completely socially accepted (e.g. pleasing, greed, perfectionism), they have become part of the culture. Yet they stifle personal development that leads to a fulfilled, happy life.?

What is good for people, for being human, for humanity, is not always what’s good for sustaining a dominant societal form. As long as humanity does not build a society in which societal interests coincide with individual interests, there will be a conflict between societal and universal ethics that will continue to make people sick.