a creative adaptation to a world of rising shortagesccps/etzioni/a113.pdfannals, aapss, 420, july...

ANNALS, AAPSS, 420, July 1975

A Creative Adaptationto a World of Rising Shortages

By AMITAI ETZIONI

ABSTRACT: Predictions for the future among intellectualshave swung in the recent past from an optimistic view of man'scapabilities and a continuing abundance of material goods to afatalistic pessimism regarding man's inability to respondadequately to current and imminent crises-the populationexplosion, limited food and resource supplies, and environ-mental pollution, to name a few. Among the various predic-tions, the only knowable aspect of the future is that it will bedifferent from whatever is expected. The humanistic psy-chology of Abraham Maslow, while at odds with most currentviews, holds that man's immutable needs for love, dignityand self-actualization separate him from the rest of the animalworld, though he shares many basic animal needs which mustbe satisfied first. A critical question is at what point man willshift his attention from "acquisitive" values to "post-bourgeois," or nonmaterialistic, values. What effect will therecent economic downturn and energy crisis, as well as futureshortages, have on society-a rededication to materialism, orthe evolution of new societal values which de-emphasize con-sumption in favor of Maslow's "higher" goals?-

Amitai Etzioni isa Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Directorof the Center for Policy Research. He has served on the Committee on ProfessionalEthics, American Sociological Association, and on the Executive Committee of theEastern Sociological Society. He was a member of the editorial boards of Science,Social Policy, and Sociological Inquiry, and has contributed widely to professionaljournals, as well as to the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is author ofGenetic Fix, The Active Society, Political Unification, and A Comparative Analysisof Complex Organizations.

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CREAllVE ADAPTAll0N TO SHORTAGES 99

A DARK mood of fatalistic pes-simism is spreading among

America's intellectuals. The worldand the nation are depicted asstricken with a multiplicity ofdebilitating, possibly fatal, maladieswhose sources are beyond our capac-ity to diagnose and which, if we coulduncover them, might well be beyondour power to control or defeat. Thatthis is the direction of currentintellectual winds is suggested bythe recent turnabout of Robert Heil-broner, whose writing has served asa weather vane in the past.

In 1966, Robert L. Heilbroner pre-dicted in his book, The Limits ofAmerican Capitalism, that the pur-suit of scientific discovery wouldshortly come to replace economicproductivity as the central purposeof modern societies, bringing anever-increasing reliance on rationalplanning in efforts to overcomesocial problems.! Heilbroner as-sumed a continuation, if not expan-sion, of the abundance of materialgoods-and provided a ready an-swer to the question raised a fewyears earlier by David Riesman andJohn Kenneth Galbraith, who wor-ried over what we would do with allthe abundance the industrial ma-chinery was about to deluge uswith2-and a peaceful overcoming ofthe forces which sustained the statusquo, leading to considerably moreplentiful leisure time, a major ex-pansion of the health, educationaland other human services, and alesser emphasis on material goals.3

In 1974, Heilbroner again cap-1. Robert L. Heilbroner, The Limits of

American Capitalism (New York: Harper &Row, 1965), pp. 129-30.

2. David Riesman, Abundance for What?(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964); JohnKenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society(Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1958).

3. Heilbroner, Limits of American Capi-talism, p. 123.

tured-and helped to foster-thespreading mood in The HumanProspect, in which he calls the out-look for man "painful, difficult, evendesperate," and goes on to say, "theanswer to whether we can conceiveof the future other than as a con-tinuation of the darkness and dis-order of the past seems to me to beno; and to the question of whetherworse impends, yes.".

The crux of the problem, accord-ing to Heilbroner, is our inability torespond adequately to the crisesthat face us-our sudden awarenessthat "rationality has its limits withregard to social change."5 ThepopulatiQn explosion in the ThirdWorld is seen as likely to lead towidespread famine and death-orto the rise of "iron governments"which will seek a drastic reallocationof the world's wealth by black-mailing the richer nations withnuclear threats or by cutting off thesupply of raw materials.

Since the citizens of the wealthysocieties could not be expected toaccept such a coerced drop in theirstandards of living gracefully, warwould appear to be inevitable. Birthcontrol is no solution because evenwith zero population growth by theyear 2000, the population of theunderdeveloped countries 50 yearslater would still have increased twoand a half times.

Nor is stepped up industrialgrowth the answer, since the worldis running out of resources and anyattempted technological remedieswould likely have side effects worsethan the original problem-includ~ing global thermal pollution, a threatto the continued survival of life onearth. The "human prospect," ac-

4. Robert Heilbroner, An Inquiry into theHuman Prospect (New York: W. W. Norton,1974), p. 22.

5. Heilbroner, Human Prospect, p. 17.

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THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

cording to Heilbroner, is thus a"Hobbesian struggle" arising in anever more economically straight-jacketed society.

The Club of Rome's neo-Mal-thusian computer prophecies pre-ceded Heilbroner in near-doomsdayforecasts. More recently, an M.I.T.group called for consideration of"lifeboat ethics," a proposal toration dwindling amounts of avail-able food to those with fertile cropsrather than fertile bodies.6 Dr. PeterWyllie, a prominent geochemist atthe University of Chicago, has pre-dicted a variety of "Doomsday-likeexperiences," from an earthquake'slaying to waste a West coast city (arecent favorite among pessimists),widespread famine and drought, andan exhaustion of the earth's naturalresources.7 He consoles his au-dience, however, by promising thatall this will not amount to "theend of the world." Even gloomieris the author of Titanic Effect,who depicts the passengers onspaceship Earth as replicating thebizarre nonchalance in the face ofimminent, certain disaster, of thoseother passengers on an ostensiblyunsinkable ship;8

Personally, I do not believe thatthe future is knowable. An examina-tion of past predictions supportssuch skepticism. C. P. Snow pre-dicted in 1960 that "within, at themost, ten years, some of these bombsare going to go off. I'm saying thisas responsibly as I can. This is thecertainty. ..a certainty of dis-aster."9 As the nation prepared to

6. The M.I.T. group is under the direc-tion of Jay Forrester at the Sloan Schoolof Management. Its work is related to that ofthe Club of Rome which recently publishedMankind at the Turning Point (E. P. Dutton/Reader's Digest P~ess, 1974).

7. New York Times, 1 October 1974.8. Kenneth E. F. Watt, Titanic Effect (New

York: E. P. Dutton, 1974).9. New York Times, 14 December 1960.

face a baby avalanche when thoseborn during the postwar baby boomreached marriageable age, the birthrate fell below replacement level.First ghetto dwellers, then students,were said to be about to pullAmerica apart, but instead bothgroups are now less active in demon-strations as well as other modes ofpolitical participation.

The only "prediction" with whichone can feel comfortable is that theworld of the future is very likely tobe rather different from whateverthe prevailing mood expects it to be,if only because the world cannotchange nearly so fast as publicmoods or intellectual fashions. It ispossible, for instance (though notpredictable), that after having passedso quickly from the unboundedexpectations of the New Frontier andGreat Society to the gloomy anti-thesis of Watergate, stagflation andmultiple shortages, we may soon beready for synthesis of cautiousoptimism (or moderated pessimism),advancing the thought that, insteadof going after everything and endingup despairing of anything, we could,proceeding carefully and with ded-ication, succeed in accomplishing afew, well-chosen, collective goals.

The first straws flying in thisparticular direction are to be seenin a recent issue of the PublicInterest, devoted to a post mortemof the Great Society programs.1oRather than concluding, as previouspathologists had, that the entireslew of social reforms were largelyquixotic exercises in rhetorical self-delusion and other deception, thejudgment.is that, given much morecareful planning, judicious experi-mentation, meticulous administra-tion and less scattershot deploymentof resources, we would be able to

10. "Great Society," Public Interest 34(Winter 1974).

CREATIVE ADAPTATION TO SHORTAGES

101

accomplish at least some of our inherent goodness being warped bysocietal purposes. it.

THE MASLOWIAN PERSPECTIVE

Even more venturesome, thoughdeeply optimistic and barely noticedby the prophets of the hour, is a quitedifferent perspective on our time, oursociety, and its future transformation:the humanistic psychology of Abra-ham Maslow and oth~rs such asCarl Rogers and Kurt Goldstein.Once considered a maverick posi-tion, it has gradually gained atten-tion and adherents, though it remainsclearly a minority view in the socialsciences, as well as in the society'sintellectual circles.

Since a Maslowian perspectiveleads to quite different, and morehopeful, conclusions about themeaning of our current crisis-bothour economic difficulties and themore hard-to-pinpoint rise in moraland political self-doubt and declinein commitment to the so-calledAmerican way of life-at the veryleast the position and its implica-tions for the possibilities open to"post-modern" society deserve to bemore widely known.

The needs set forth are for secur-ity and proviiions, love, dignity andself-actualization. Such a position isat odds with the views of humannature which currently dominate thesocial sciences. It conflicts withcurrent views that deny the existenceof human nature-whether theyportray a person as wholly shapedby social, cultural, economic andhistorical conditions or see eachindividual as highly autonomous,capable of remaking himself com-pletely according to any specifica-tions he chooses-as well as withthose which accept a common hu-man psychology, but postulate eitherthe evils in the instincts, or id, asbeing tamed by civilization or man's

It is not our purpose here to tracethe often quite scholastic labyrinthsthrough which this debate haspassed ("if one compares what Freudhas written on page so-and-so to pageso-and-so' concerning sublimation,one cannot fail to see that my visionof repression is true ..."11) norto sift and weigh the extensive butinconclusive data as to which view-point on human nature has the mostempirical support at the moment.We ask, rather, what distinctive.implications Maslow has for thedynamics of our time and whatevidence exists that current trendsdeserve to be understood from aMaslowian perspective?

As I see it (and interpretation isunavoidable since Maslow died in1970 and was not a rigid thinker);if people have immutable needs forlove, dignity and self-actualization,12then no clever conditioning, be-havior modification, thoroughgoingsocialization processes or any otherattempts at pigeonholing or reg-imentation can bring them to accepta world of hate, stigma and con-straint. People may be led to with-stand abusive totalitarianism orghetto conditions because sheersurvival (Maslow's most basic need)takes precedence over the higherneeds listed above. However, thisdoes not mean that people can bemade to disregard the claims oftheir higher selves and achieve satis-faction in a regimented world with-out dignity and freedom. When theobjective situation allows it, theirunderlying yearning for satisfactionof their full range of needs willassert itself-not because they havebeen taught to view affection, self-

11. Paul A. Robinson, The Freudian Left(New York: Harper & Row, 1969).

12. Amitai Etzioni, The Active Society(New York: Free Press, 1968), ch. 21.

102 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

esteem, and autonomous creativeaction as projects one should fol-low, but despite and counter tosociety's messages to substitute forthese gratifications manufacturedmaterial wants.

The deeper ramificati~ns of thisview of human nature for our futurewill be suggested subsequently,but its implications for contemporarypolicies are quite evident: behaviormodification and other conditioningtechniques may well succeed indealing with specific items of be-havior, but they cannot be used tocreate different personalities in-compatible with basic human needs(such as 1984 soldier-robots orworkers who love their assemblylines).13

The Maslowian basic humanneeds perspective further suggeststhat while some of our inner drivesare shared with other animals, wehave, in addition, important needswhich are distinctively human,shared by other animals only inrudimentary form, if at all. In ef-fect, our needs to love and beloved, for dignity, and for self-actualization may well be used tocharacterize, indeed define, a humanbeing. Children who have beenlong deprived of human contactand opportunity for satisfaction oftheir higher needs do not learnsymbolic language or how to thinkabstractly; rather than walk erect,they crawl and bark. They remind usthat it is not sufficient to be born ofa human to be human. At least ameasure of attention to the higherorder needs is required to transformthe animal each of us is at birthinto a human person. Ethically, itis in these additional needs that ourclaim to be treated-and our im-perative to treat others-as persons

13. Etzioni, Active Society, pp. 626 if.

is rooted. It follows that attempts tobase public policy on other groundsare bound to fail.

By the same token, the humanessence cannot be reached viagenetics any more than via animalpsychology. No one has identified,or is likely to find, genes for loveor chromosomes for self-actualiza-tion. Our biological inheritance mayaffect us through our animal nature,but it is powerfully channeled by ourpeculiarly human character to shapeour desires and actions. Most signif-icantly, in this context, Maslow andthe other humanistic psychologistsrecognize only one set of basichuman needs which all personsshare, whatever their race, sex orethnic heritage. Any other approachwhich sees subpopulations of dif-ferent kinds as motivated by es-sentially different basic humanneeds, for genetic or other reasons,is but a short step from racism.All that has to be added to such ananti-Maslowian proposition-to thenotion that there are inherent basicdifferences among peoples -for it tobecome racism is the almost un-avoidable corollary suggestion thatsince different attributes have dif-ferent normative standings (higher orlower values), the better-endowedgroups are superior. A true libertar-ian position, therefore, must rest ona universality of basic human needs,on a Maslowian position.

This is not to suggest, however-Maslow is quite clear on this point-that all peoples seek to fulfill alltheir needs at once or the sameparticular subset of needs at thesame time. Historical conditionsdetermine which profile of needs isacted upon at a given time becausebasic human needs are arranged in ahierarchy. Under conditions of strin-gent scarcity, people will act firstto fulfill their "lowest" need, that is,

CREATIVE ADAPTATION TO SHORTAGES 103

to secure their continued existence.Poor people in affiuent countries canbe expected to concern themselvesmore with obtaining adequate food,housing and clothing than with meet-ing higher needs. Similarly, a con-scientious objector, who took part inan experiment in which starvationwas induced, gradually lost interestin his social work after a few weeksof very restricted dieV4 This doesnot mean that the nobler things inlife mean nothing, only that circum-stances force people to focus theirenergies on the first-order needs.

Once the minimal needs of exis-tence have been secured, attentioncan be shifted to the higher ones. Itis at this point that an interpreta-tion of what is meant by satisfac-tion of the lower needs is of thegreatest relevance to our status asan advanced industrial nation andour future, especially in a world ofexhaustable natural resources. Mas-low himself did not specify whetherhe expected the active quest forhigher fulfillment to be triggered assoon as the lower needs wereadequately met or only after theseneeds had been fully satiated, evengorged.

The point is crucial because manysocial scientists, and many moreobservers of the social scene, havepointed to the so-called Americanway of life as the ultimate proof thatman is acquisitive by nature and hasinsatiable desires for material goodsand services: It is often pointed out,for example, that workers and theirunions have traditionally paid farmore attention to the bread andbutter issues of pay and improvingfringe benefits than to doing some-thing about the boredom, routiniza-tion, and lack of opportunities for

14. James C. Davies, Human Nature andPolitics (New York: Wiley, 1963), p. 13.

autonomy and creativity character-istic of factory labor.

A comparison of job attitudesamong workers on the assemblyline in a car factory and in a chemicalplant, where more advanced tech-nology made the work pace lessregimented and therefore sup-posedly less alienating, found thechemical workers substantially moredissatisfied with their jobs than theauto workers because of their lowerpay.I5 The study discovered, in fact,that the size of their wages was notonly the central, but virtually thesole interest of both groups in theirwork.I6

However, these data do not neces-sarily contradict Maslow; they mayindicate that people have a highlevel of materialistic desires andhence will delay their shift to activequest of higher needs, and notnecessarily that they will pursueever higher levels of materialisticwell-being without increasing psy-chological investment in other hu-man needs. But these data leavemoot the questions of whether theshift will occur and whether itmight be at such a high level ofconsumption that, in a world of risingshortages, it may indeed be faraway.

A second look at these and similarfindings, however, reveals consider-able room for an interpretation morefavorable to Maslow. The chemicalplant which workers criticized wasstill a monotonous place to work-ifsomewhat less so than the assemblyline-and unsuited to the pursuit ofself-actualization, let alone love andhuman dignity. These needs theworkers sought to satisfy "after

15. John H. Goldthorpe et aI., The AffluentWorker in the Class Structure (London andNew York: Cambridge University Press,1969), pp. 59-60.

16. Goldthorpe, Affluent Worker, p. 57.


hours," in family life or in otherleisure time activities. Their liveswere rigidly compartmentalized,with work stripped of meaning be-yond its capacity to provide earn-ings. Moreover, interviews withworkers revealed that substantialportions of the various groups stud-ied-between 44 and 66 percent-had previously held less routinized,more intrinsically enjoyable, butpoorly paying jobs which most saidthey liked more than their currentones and had reluctantly given up infavor of the higher pay.17 They re-mained highly conscious of thesacrifices they had made in makingthis choice and indeed viewed theirhigh wages as compensation for themany physical and psychologicalstresses they had to put up withon the job.

Workers' awareness of depriva-tion also came out indirectly intheir aspirations for their children.When asked what they hoped fortheir children's futures, the numberof responses stressing economic re-wards and intrinsic satisfaction werenearly equal, and the specific jobsmentioned most often-electronicsengineer, industrial designer anddraughtsman-were ones that wereapproved because they were re-warding on both grounds.18

Eli Chinoy's classic study ofassembly line workers supports thisinterpretation by showing that jobdissatisfaction was very high amongDetroit auto workers.19 This wasreflected in complaints about therelentless pace and monotony of thework, high turnover on the assemblyline, and the fact that 48 of 62

17. Goldthorpe, Affluent Worker, pp. 55-56.

18. Goldthorpe, Affluent Worker, p. 133.19. Eli Chinoy, Automobile Workers and

the American Dream (New York: Double-day, 1955).

workers (and 25 of 29 on theproduction line) said they hadthought of "getting out of the shop"and that "everybody" did.2O As in amore recent British study discussedabove, most of the workers dreamedof going into business for them-selves. Others thought about farm-ing, sales jobs or semi-professionalwork-jobs characterized by a gooddeal of autonomy and variety. Onlythree mentioned some other kind ofwage work.

More generally, th~ American wayof life may well have been foundedon the notion that obtaining prod-ucts is a main route to obtaininggreater affection (&om spouse andchildren), higher prestige (respectfrom one's fellows), and ~ven self-actualization (in the command ofmachines, the power of money, andthe like). To state that for decadesAmericans have been exposed tosuch messages is to understate thecase~ It is well known that for mostAmerican households, watchingtelevision is a major leisure activity,with consumerism permeating ad-vertisements and many programsand being further enforced by othermass media.

CHANGING VALUES ANDALTERNATIVE LIFE STYLES

The crucial question is how deeplydid the idea that goods are thebest way to satisfy all our needs takehold? It seems that for a transi-tional period, encompassing the shiftfrom agriculture to industry untilquite recently, both America as anouveau riche nation and its ar-riviste classes elaborated this themewith every variation that money andcredit could purchase. Yet the pur-suit of conspicuous consumption had

20. Chinoy, Automobile Workers, p. 62.

CREATIVE ADAPTAnON TO SHORTAGES 105

all the neurotic signs of frenzy,breathlessness, and nonpermanencecharacteristic of activities inherentlyunsatisfying.

More recently, precisely thosesubpopulations which had beenmost deeply involved in the pur-suit of multiple satisfaction viamaterial objects began experiment-ing with so-called alternative' lifestyles. Alternatives to what, onemay ask? To the disciplined lifethe worship of objects entails is oneanswer. What alternatives ?Preciselythose a Maslowian would expect:a quest for family, peer and com-munity relations based more onaffection and less on exchange; asearch for a greater self-dignity thatno objects can buy; and a drivefor more autonomy, freedom andself-expression via artistic, personal-istic and political projects, as wellas "second Gareers."

It is now commonplace to suggestthat these movements of the 1960sare currently faltering, and there isa grand return to "normalcy," or arenewed quest for materialistic ad-vancement. As I see it, the develop-ments we are witnessing are quitedifferent in nature; what is happen-ing now represents the maturing ofthe quest for more satisfying lifestyles. This is reflected in the factthat people tend to give up theextreme modes which prevail in theexperimental stages of major socialchanges, replacing them with moremoderate, but also much more last-ing, adaptations. Thus, instead offleeing modernity to live in com-munes, people are joining blockassociations and working togetherto create new urban communities.Instead of seeking the wanderingquasi-monastic life of the adult"hippie," complete with vows ofpoverty if not of chastity, moreand more people refuse to' take

work home and instead spend moretime and energy on self-actualizingpursuits which are congruent withworking enough to secure a com-fortable existence.

As evidence, consider students,who still constitute a social avant-garde, being better off than averageand, as young persons in education,less committed to the existing socialstructure and sets of values. A studyby Daniel Yankelovich concludedthat "campus-based political revolu-tion is over for the foreseeablefuture, while the cultural revolution-the new naturalism-will con-tinue to grow at an ever-increasingtempo."21 He found that studentvalues had undergone a metamor-phosis from competitive to coopera-tive life styles, and from an emphasison extrinsic career rewards (moneyand prestige) to inherent satisfac-tions, and from "achievement viahard work to living in closer har-mony with peers and with nature."

Thus, during the period studied(1968 to 1971) students' endorse-ment of the maxim "hard work paysoff" fell from 69 percent to 39 per-cent.22 Furthermore, work failed torank particularly high as an importantvalue in the students' lives, fallingfar below the emphasis placed onlove, friendship, education, self-expression, family and privacy.23Thus, love was ranked as a veryimportant value by 87 percent;being creative, 52 percent; work, 45percent; comfort, 40 percent; andmoney, 18 percent. (That to someextent these answers are ideologicalgoes without saying, but the direc-

21. Daniel Yankelovich, Changing Valueson Campus (New York: Washington SquarePress, 1971), pp. 178-179.

22. Daniel Yankelovich, "Turbulence in theWorking World: Angry Workers, HappyGrads," Psychology Today 8, no.7 (December1974), pp. 81-87; see, p. 85.

23. Yankelovich, "Turbulence," p. 85.


tion ideology takes is of interest.)Only 12 percent felt the Americanway of life was superior to that ofany other country.

It is particularly interesting tonote, in view of the Maslowiantheory, that the students Yankelo-vich studied, who went to college"to search for more intangible bene-fits-having to do with self-expres-sion, self-fulfillment, self-actualiza-tion, and societal change" ratherthan "making it," by and large didnot do so expecting poverty, butrather took affiuence for granted.24While a slight majority of thestudents continued to place greatimportance on affiuence, as many as44 percent in 1969 (projecting tomore than 3.5 million) took affiuencefor granted and emphasized insteadthe new goals, with recent eco-nomic problems producing only a 5percent rise in those committed tomaterialistic goals in 1971,

Professor Milton Rokeach ofWashington State University de-veloped a scale to study values andstudied a random sample of Ameri-cans 21 years and older from 1968to 1972. Twenty-five of the 36 valuesstudied showed no change in termsof the relative importance attributedto them.25 However, the changesreported are in line with the Mas-lowian thesis: increasing in im-portance are world peace, beauty,equality and mature love; decreasingin importance are a comfortable life,a sense of accomplishment andfamily security. To what degreesuch findings will be affected bythe prevailing economic uncertaintyis as yet unclear.

A rather different test of the Mas-

24. Yankelovich, Changing Values, p. 92.25. Milton Rokeach, "Change and Sta-

bility in American Value Systems, 1968-1971," Public Opinion Quarterly (Summer1974), pp. 222-238; see, p. 227.

26. Ronald Inglehart, "The Silent Revolu-tion in Europe: Intergenerational Change inPost-Industrial Societies," American PoliticalScience Review 65 (December 1971), pp.991-1017.

low thesis was attempted by Pro-fessor Ronald Inglehart, a politicalscientist affiliated with the Univer-sities of Michigan and Geneva. In-glehart asked people in six Europeannations what they saw as moresignificant: combating inflation andmaintaining law and order (whichhe labeled "acquisitive" values) orincreasing people's say in politicalmatters and protecting freedom ofspeech (which he referred to as"post-bourgeois" values).26 Whileone might wish that he had askedabout a broader range of non-acquisitive values, the narrow scopeof his questions does not render hisdata irrelevant.

In all six countries, Inglehartfound a clear majority on theacquisitive side, but at the same timea sizable minority of the citizens-at-large (not just students or youth)expressed a preference for the post-bourgeois values. This group waslargest in the Netherlands andBelgium, smaller in Italy and France,and smallest in Germany and Britain.In all six countries, the youngerthe person, the lower the commit-ment to acquisitive values. An evenstronger correlation was establishedwith affiuence. The more wealth aperson had, the less he or she wascommitted to acquisitive values andthe higher his other allegiance to thepost-bourgeois ideals. Thus, for in-stance, among the upper class in theNetherlands, 11 percent endorsedacquisitive values, while 52 percentfavored post-bourgeois ones; amongthe lower classes, the relationshipwas reversed-40 percent acquis-itive and 7 percent post-bourgeois.

Professor Nobutaka Ike reports


107

similar findings from Japan. Whilethe "get rich" proportion of thepeople has not changed much overthe years-15 percent in 1953 to 17percent in 1968-those placinghigher value on living to suit. one'staste have increased from 21 percentto 32 percent, and those who sup-port the ideal of 'living cheerfully,"from 11 percent to 20 percent.27

These and other such data havetriggered a considerable technicaldebate among researchers over whatmeanings can be inferred legiti-mately, the details of which are ofinterest primarily to the specialist.28The overall conclusion, however,seems to be that a sizable and grow-ing group, albeit still a minority,is expressing a preference for satis-faction of their so-called higherneeds-not replacing comfort, butbuilding on top of it.

FUTURE ECONOMICS AND WESTERNWAYS OF LIFE

The recent economic downturnand energy crisis have put theMaslowian thesis to a new andmore severe test. While I declineto join in the doomsday outcries,neither do I believe the crisis tobe a transitory condition. Presentingit as a temporary phenomenon isthe politician's way of avoiding tell-

27. Nobutaka Ike, "Economic Growth andIntergenerational Change in Japan," Ameri-can Political Science Review 67, no. 4(December 1973), pp. 1194-1203; see, p.1196.

28. For an introductory overview of thislitemture, see, for example, Norman Bmd-burn and David Caplowitz, Reports on Hap-piness (Chicago: Aldine, 1965); MiltonRokeach, "Change and Stability in Amer-ican Value Systems, 1968-1971," PublicOpinion Quarterly (Summer 1974), pp.222-238; Morton Beiser, "Comments andCorrelates of Mental Well-Being," journal ofHealth and Social Behavior 15, no. 4(December 1974), pp. 220-227.

ing the Western world that severalcountries, most of which were here-tofore economically weak, have nowfollnd a means to reallocate thewealth of nations. All the talk ofconvincing the oil producing coun-tries to reduce their prices or"recycle" their monies into Westernhands refuses to come to terms withthe fact that, even if present priceswere halved, a major reallocation ofwealth would nevertheless still oc-cur, because half is still twice theprevious price.

Also, while recycling throughinvestment in the West might delaythe day of reckoning somewhat, itwould increase the bill by addinginterest to capital, with the interestalone quickly reaching levels akin tothe original outlays. (For example,at 7 percent interest, within 10years the amount owed on a $100loan is virtually doubled).

The Western people (perhaps withthe oil-rich, "blue-eyed Arabs" inNorway and Canada exempted) willhave to lower their standard ofliving, or at least accept a haltin its rise. Inflation is only theprimary way this is being broughtabout. Project Independence, if itever gets off the ground, is meantto phase out this country's de-pendence on foreign energy re-sources. However, whatever thepolitical and psychic significance ofsuch a drive, the capital outlaysinvolved are so enormous that theresult, oddly enough, would be thesame: the United ~tates would haveto curb consumption in order to freeresources for the new era of in-dustrial development. According to arecent article in the New Republic,estimates of capital outlays rangefrom $700 billion by a member ofthe Federal Reserve Board to $628billion by the National PetroleumCouncil to the FEA' s $545 billion,

108


all of which leave out such costs asoperating expenses, debt payments,building new steel mills to producemining equipment, and the cost ofhouses, highways and cars to supplyminers' families.)29 We would, in away, have to return to the 1890s-not that the standard of living wouldbe that low, but top priority wouldbe given to industrial-economic de-velopment and the concomitant de-mands on personality.

The Maslowian question iswhether the West will respond bysuch a rededication to materialisticendeavors or evolve a new societalforce under these challenges. Thedoomsday prophets are manifest orlatent materialists. Their world isone of gross national product, incomeper capita, cash flow and commodityscarcities.~ Indeed, if the West con-tinues to hinge its self-view~itsdefinition of well-being, in effect-on a continued expansion of theamount of resources used annually,the future is likely to be exper-ienced as constraining and conflict-laden. However, if the West wereinstead to lead the way to a newcivilization based on satisfaction ofMaslow's higher needs, toward agreater emphasis on collective proj-ects low in resources required, andif materialistic escalation were putaside in deference to self-actualiza-tion, the West would experienceneither shortages nor threats, norlive in poverty.

Significant numbers of Americans,and not only students, are nowexperimenting with a variety ofprojects which differ greatly fromthe current central societal one ofcreating material resources duringthe day and consuming them atnight. One of these is hedonism,which replaces commitment to pro-

29. "Enough Energy by 1985?" NewRepublic, 18 September 1974, p. 18.

duction and the work ethic with a"celebration of the body." In oneof its main manifestations, commer-cial hedonism, it is quite close to'the other materialist project, simplyemphasizing consumerism at the ex-pense of production by implying thatone is entitled to play hard withouthaving worked hard. This type ofhedonism is, of course, highly de-'pendent on continued affluence. Itssecond main manifestation is morerelevant: pauper hedonism is acollective celebration of the sensesnot mediated by products and there-fore less of a drain on the world'smaterial resources. The senior citi-zen retirement idyll of continuousdaily rounds of bridge and shufBe-board playing, taking part in socialclubs and relaxing in the sun ex-emplifies this type of hedonism, andone could imagine both a greaterproportion of the population and agreater proportion of each individ-ual's life devoted to such an exis-tence. Ultimately, however, eitherkind of hedonistic life style as acentral project for society wouldseem to be difficult to stabilize and,consequently, likely to self-destructfor reasons which we cannot explainhere.3O

A very different life style wouldentail finding meaning in creativeself-expression, expansion of themind, and advancement of knowl-edge through study. A surprisinglylarge number of people, non-work-ing persons especially-house-wives, the aged, youth, as well asso-called perpetual students-cur-rently center their lives aroundpottery-making or painting or "goingback to school," not for vocationalbut for intrinsic satisfaction.!

Still another possible new life30. "Continuity and Discontinuity in the

Contemporary Crisis of Meanings," Journalof Aesthetic Education 6, no. 1-2 (Jan.-April 1972), pp. 148-159.


109focus

is the empathetic project inwhich the most important pursuitwould become greater understand-ing of ourselves and others and bet-ter communication and interaction.The burgeoning of sensitivity andencounter groups, the increasingnumbers of people who see ther-apists of one sort or another, aswell as the greatly increased salesof social-psychological books areindicative of a trend in this direc-tion.

Finally, there could occur a shifttoward an "active society"-one inwhich public affairs, particularlypolitics at the local level andparticipation in so-called privategovernments such as schools, hos-pitals and voluntary associations,would achieve primacy. While itmay be difficult to imagine such ashift in focus from material produc-tion and consumption to artistic andliterary pursuits, interpersonal rela-tions, politics or some other non-material pursuits, it is wise to bearin mind that historically most socie-ties have had nonmaterialistic cen-tral projects, even though most of themajority's time was spent in sub-sistence production. The main dif-ference between these past socie-ties and an advanced industrialsociety such as ours is that, thoughwe would have to maintain a baseof production, we would be able todo so while freeing not only the elite,but a larger proportion of citizensand a larger portion of each individu-al's time for devotion to nonmaterialpursuits.

*

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: My name is Caroline Heller. Etzioni how we in realistic andI know Maslow and his idea of self- practical terms could reach thatactualization. I would like to ask Mr. kind of self-actualization.

Whether this comes about is notup to the intellectuals, however, bethey doomsday prophets or Maslow-ians. No social scientist or societalengineer can make a people rede-fine what they value most and whatthey will make the core of theirpersonal and societal projects. How-ever, if more and more membersof West em societies experience ma-terialism and its inherent inabilityto satisfy the full range of humanneeds, then the shift to encompassand stress nonmaterialistic projectscould well occur.

The outlook for internal socialjustice must also be gauged in thislight. The politics of reallocationbased on guilt toward the dis-advantaged and the poor has more orless run its course. If materialismremains the prime project of themiddle and upper classes, I see nobasis on which to obtain theirconsent for granting a significantshare of their now-threatened af-fluence to American have-nots, letalone to others. However, if thesocietal focus is shifted, the politcalprerequisite for greater social justicewill have been created, so that allthose Americans who are now ex-cluded from a comfortable life stylewill be able to attend to this as theirfirst need. The new nonmaterialisticprojects are not meant to be givento the poor instead of housing,clothing and food. After having at-tained comfort in these areas, how-ever, the poor will be as ready as theprivileged classes to look for ful-fillment of their higher needs.

110


I ask the question especially inthe context of these times of ad-vanced technology.

A: I may as well be honest-1 donot have an answer for the question.It has been with mankind as long asrecorded history, from the OldTestament on, and people haveaspired to an answer but I don'tthink they have come up with one.The most I can do is offer onefootnote: the world in which mostor all people will be able to self-

actualize will require the uniting ona' purpose which is not tied toscarcity.

Scarcity by definition means con-flict and competition; it is there-fore one of the psychological rootsof war. Dealing with things-you canhave and others will not lack is apsychological prerequisite for gen-uine, lasting peace. We must focusour lives on purposes which are notscarcity-bound. The move towardthat solution is not automaticallyforthcoming, but I believe there aresigns of that direction.

a creative adaptation to a world of rising shortagesccps/etzioni/a113.pdfannals, aapss, 420, july...

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