Click Map for Details


Flag Counter

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

A Kaleidoscope of Interdependency

Is it good to rely on others or is it wiser to be as independent as possible?  How would you define: (a) Dependence? (b) Independence? (c) Interdependence? (Serendipity Bible Fourth Edition, page 1180).

---------------------------------------------------

Dependence: the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else (New Oxford American Dictionary “NOD”)

Independent: Free from outside control; not depending on another's authority (NOD)

Interdependent:  (of two or more people or things) dependent on each other: the increasingly global nature of human society, with interdependent economies. (NOD)

---------------------------------------------------

The idea of trade and market exchange automatically channeling self-interest toward socially desirable ends is a central justification for the laissez-faire economic philosophy, which lies behind neoclassical economics. In this sense, the central disagreement between economic ideologies can be viewed as a disagreement about how powerful the "invisible hand" is. In alternative models, forces which were nascent during [Adam] Smith's life, such as large-scale industry, finance, and advertising, reduce its effectiveness. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand)


By operating with a maximum subjective sense of independence, the more objectively dependent I am upon others through the process of socio/economic interdependency. For example, the more I have a sense of independence bestowed by a "consumer is king" mentality, the more dependent I am.  That is, increasing subjective independence has within it the ineluctable drive to dependency and interdependency.  Power and wealth generation are thus in actuality transferred from the individual to societal arrangements--the division of labor serving to intensify this phenomenon. The political affection for subjective libertarianism becomes increasingly frustrated by this hegemonic organizational principle.

On the supply side, a fundamental flaw of capitalism as an ideology is that it distributes wealth based upon fancied independency rather than perceiving wealth as the actual product of many dependent players operating within an essential interdependent infrastructure.  Distributing wealth based upon fictional independence leads to gross economic injustices and distortions.





Print Page