Focus should move from injustices to jobs and productivity
Pandemic needs to expose materialism’s shallowness and highlight unemployment and poverty
If the Covid crisis downgrades our devotion to materialistic pursuits, expect political resistance towards practical solutions to crumble. The ANC’s success at framing economic issues within an inequality context would collapse. Fighting poverty through creating private sector jobs could then become a unifying priority.
Being locked down amid a global pandemic rattles perspectives. Time slows while life seems shorter. Fewer discretionary purchases seems discreet. Googling “father of capitalism” returns Adam Smith. But the 18th century professor of moral philosophy didn’t use the term “capitalism”. When interpreting industrialisation’s effect on consumers and business people he depicted an emerging “commercial society”. Are we living through a comparable, though more sudden, shift?..
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