Stage-3: Prosperity Surges in the Individualist Mode
Values & Economic Strength
A legitimist ethos can enable economic growth to a degree, and can let individuals do the best they can. However, political values and institutions, essential to foster and support enterprising and hard-working individuals, are missing. So prosperity remains elusive for most in society—and, by extension, for the government.
Widespread prosperity requires a society to incorporate specific political values and create specific political institutions requiring greater self-awareness. These emerge with the Individualist mode.
The responsibility placed on each person increases. Each must know themselves, their strengths and weaknesses. Each must focus more on the wider social context in terms of its risks and its opportunities for earning a living. Without exception, each must be diligent, make efforts, persevere and following setbacks or failure pick themselves up and restart. Self-respect and social esteem is part of the reward of responding to such norms.
Private wealth now begins to challenge the dominance of political elites.
Values & Institutions of the Individualist Mode
Commonality
Integrating Force:
Regulated markets
Markets are a common social good, enabling buyers and sellers to engage. In doing so they need to compete against each other in a self-interested but fair way. The urge to gain advantage by dishonest means is natural, so explicit regulation is essential.
If individuals can offer goods or services that others want at a price that produces a profit, then everyone benefits. The buyer, the seller and wider society. Adam Smith famously captured the notion of markets enabling social benefit to accrue through the individual pursuit of self-interest via his metaphor of the «invisible hand».
The social environment must be actively reconstructed by government to allow or provide fair markets: for labour, for capital, for objects, for food, for equities, for property, for aesthetic items, for time—indeed for anything scarce that a person may wish to acquire or may wish to provide for others.
Socio-political Institution:
Personal enterprise
Work is required to live, but enterprise is more than work. It is hard work to benefit oneself by serving the needs of others. Individuals are enterprising, not groups—even if employing many individuals in large organizations is needed for large enterprises.
People will only willingly become enterprising if:
- it is a genuine norm (i.e. obligation) in society, and
- it is in their interest to do so.
As a result, the more people in society get something for nothing, the more that enterprise the work ethic is eroded.
People can be compelled to do manual work using threats, but it is near-impossible to compel people to be creative, enterprising, loyal, diligent or responsive to customers.
Governance Requirement:
Equality of opportunity
No-one can know the ability of another (or even themselves) in the absence of a challenge freely undertaken. So no-one should be arbitrarily denied work opportunities or market access on the basis of irrelevant factors like skin colour, gender, beliefs, disabilities &c
Governments must legislate and check:
- everyone has opportunities to do the best for themselves;
- competition is not blocked via cartels, monopolies or monopsonies;
- discrimination in labour markets is about work suitability, and not irrelevant factors.
Individuality
Personal Benefit:
Accumulation of wealth
Society must support, validate and celebrate the personal accumulation of wealth through enterprise and hard work. As Deng Xiao Ping announced to the Chinese when enterprise was being permitted in the economy: “To be rich is glorious!”
High achievers in all fields of activity should receive public admiration, as well as their monetary rewards. Treating achievers as «tall poppies», to be envied and cut down to size, is counter-productive.
Social Interactions:
Self-reliance
Self-reliance involves an active rejection of dependency and infantilization. It means avoiding unnecessary conflict, and managing conflict by standing up for oneself. It assumes that each person must take risks that will sometimes lead to disappointments and losses.
Where life is a competitive battle with winners and losers, the need for self-reliance comes to the fore. Business depends on networking, so people can actively interact and exchange information. If an idea is good, people may start up new firms.
The feature shared by contractual relations (with their intrinsic obligations) and friendship (where obligation is rejected) is the self-reliance of the two parties.
Provision of Knowledge:
Transparency and privacy
Business depends on trust and confidence, so:
- the public (often via government agencies) has a right to know certain things to prevent fraud and deceit; &
- a sphere of privacy is required for sensitive negotiations, consultations, and business development.
Personal-Ethical Requirements
Core Value:
Freedom
Freedom means, above all, freedom from arbitrary interference (as enabled in the legitimist mode). But to support enterprise and enable a maximally productive society, freedom must be affirmed and extended to include:
- freedom of movement—to find work or do business;
- freedom of thought—to support initiative and innovation;
- freedom of expression—to allow advice, debate and exchange of opinions;
- freedom of association—to create ventures and useful support groups.
With freedom comes the responsibility to operate within societal constraints (the law), applicable to all equally.
Civic Virtue:
Courage
In all enterprise there is unavoidable risk—risk that may be known or unknown, or even unknowable. Taking risks and being self-reliant requires courage. Each of us must:
- bravely lead or bravely follow leaders;
- try out the new and be prepared to enter the unknown;
- be tough enough to accept failure and loss;
- develop the patience to handle uncertainty and delay;
- position to avoid panic or over-confident complacency.
To the degree that anyone falls short, they will be less successful.
Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 27 Mar 2014