The Economy as a Set of Interlocking Paradoxes - Part II

I realized when I went back to look at my manuscript that I had left out the last third of the chapter on the economy. Just as well, really - the text was already rather long for a blog. So I am continuing the discussion with a second posting on the same subject, allowing me to append the material that was missing. This presents the tail end of the discussion of money, followed by a more detailed exposition of the three interlocking economies I see emerging.

Hence we can neither “throw money away”, nor have it “appear out of nothing” – both actions
have consequences for us as individuals and as social beings. In a sense, when we lose or gain
money, we are “eating ourselves”. Money is at the heart of the paradox of being human, of being
both an individual actor and a social animal. This analysis should make us very wary of misusing
money – even of miscommunicating about it!


61
Ibid.
46
Money is therefore itself a form of paradox. Furthermore, it partakes of the change in
communication paradigm discussed elsewhere in this book. Hence money is more than a “unit of
exchange”, it is a “trigger” that activates neural networks in both parties involved in the
exchange. In this sense, it is a relationship. When money “changes hands”, it activates feelings
and responses in both people, that is, it also “changes brains”. This highlights not only the
relationship between money and power, but also between money and identity.
As suggested earlier, there may be many different forms of money, not just those that are usually
considered to be such. As we move further into the 21st century, several different money systems
are likely to emerge. I am not talking about different currencies, the US dollar versus the Euro,
but different kinds of money based on different types of value. In the centrist world of the 20th
century, all forms of value could be converted to currency. In the peripheral world of the 21st
century, this is unlikely to be the case.
The Shadow Economy
Briefly mentioned in the preceding paragraphs is the idea of an emerging “third economy”, that
of a group that “opts out” of other arrangements (see Chapter 5 for more on this group). The
future outlined in this book is not all rosy – indeed, it is based on the idea of paradoxes, the co-
existence of opposites. It therefore incorporates, by necessity, a strong shadow side. Now, today’s
world also includes a huge shadow business, but this business goes virtually unacknowledged. In
the world described here, the shadow side is recognized as a necessary part of society and not one
to be suppressed or ignored as much as possible. As such, the shadow world will actually be less
all-pervasive than it is today, because we spend so much time denying its existence.
For example, the internet has revealed the scope and extent of our formerly hidden sexual
proclivities. While we each of us may deny any direct link to the world of pornography on the
world wide web, the sheer scope of the phenomenon tells a different story. This is one of our
greatest cultural paradoxes. If we were to stop denying the connection, perhaps the phenomenon
would become more manageable. I am not saying everyone is into pornography. I am saying that
everyone has a shadow self, and that recognizing that shadow self, coming into contact with
one’s own devils, is a necessary part of becoming healthy as an individual, and to becoming a
participant in a healthy society. In today’s society, public acknowledgement of one’s devils is
usually considered to be an excuse for a witch hunt on the part of other people who are equally
guilty of hiding their shadow selves (for otherwise, there would be no witch hunt!).
This underlines the need to recognize inconsistency in ourselves and to accept it in others. As
outlined in the chapter on Relationships, the single most difficult task we face as human beings is
to learn to accept who we are, all of our identity, including our own dark side. Our identity is
necessarily paradoxical – if you fail to see the paradox, then you’re missing part of your own
story! As we move into a world in which we are more accepting of ourselves and others, a less
orthodox world, we will find that the world will become more rich and strange, less uniform, less
organized into sets of conformity. More peripheral.
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Within this world, the people who are today treated as marginal, disenfranchised, as having
“dropped out”, will find themselves “one among many”. Part of this group includes
individuals who cannot function in the world of conformity and orthodoxy in any case. Indeed,
many of these people learn to live with paradox more readily than those of us in the mainstream.
As long as we have national governments and income tax and a global business economy that
normalizes all transactions, we shall have such marginal groups. As we move towards a society
that is more marginal, more accepting of difference, more fragmented, then the group that is
today considered to be disenfranchised will become one of the main groups in tomorrow’s world.
The shadow economy that today exists largely within and through the internet, in the 1960’s was
found in the thriving pornography and sleaze industries in North America62. A variety of
companies existed outside the law during that period and made millions on the unacknowledged
erotic interests of a largely male readership. The female readership, on the other hand, was buried
in romance literature, considered more socially acceptable but nonetheless as distorted in its
intensification of aspects of life that are not, well, real, as is pornography.
The prevalence of different literary genres in our reading and film entertainment practices today
speaks to the darker side of who we are in much the way the sleaze and romance industries of the
1960’s did. Hence detective fiction deals with murder, sex crimes, robbery and other criminal
activities we are not allowed to live out in our everyday lives, and yet which have their
psychological hold over us. Thrillers, likewise, incorporate a shadow world that is very much
grounded in the real one. Science fiction constitutes a “shadow” representation of our
technological world, while Fantasy and Superhero Comic fiction are a shadow of a shadow, a part
of our usually unacknowledged desire to live in a more “magical”, pre-technological world.
Historical novels allow us to wallow in our world’s past, another form of shadow of our modern
culture. Each acknowledged genre points to a shadow side of our own culture. However, these
represent, for the most part, distractions – that is, at the same time that they serve our need to
express our shadow selves, they allow us to refuse recognition of the latter. Hence detective
fictions provides us with an expression for our criminal tendencies, but allows us to identify with
the “good guy” and hence to negate any direct relationship with the criminal. Historical fiction
allows us to investigate the past, but protects us from contact with our own past.
The internet, of course, has created a widely accessible storehouse for “dark stuff”. Furthermore,
this is a very international storehouse, by no means confined to the west, as were earlier
industries. The rise in international trade in slaves, in sex tourism, in the abduction of children, in
human organs, in international terrorism, and other almost unspeakable acts are all partially
supported by the internet in its most perverse aspects. There are no easy answers to dealing with
these, indeed, shadowy issues either. Certainly the answer is not to deny their existence, nor to
avoid looking. That there are clients, and participants, and organizations that operate doing these
activities results from the fact that we, each and every one of us, has a shadow side of our own
personality that, for the most part, we resist acknowledging in public (or even to ourselves). Until
we come to grips with this, with the need to provide public forums for engaging with the shadow
within ourselves, we have no hope of addressing these questions through orthodox means. They
will not yield to orthodox methods (e.g. policing, the military, politics, etc.).


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Brittany A. Daly (editor), 2005, Sin-A-Rama: Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties, Los Angeles: Feral House, 288
pp.
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The emergence of an international, acknowledged, shadow economy is therefore a
necessary step to coming to grips with the darkest socio-economic characteristics of humanity.
We must resist the temptation to “regulate” it out of existence. Like the politically correct
movement, all that will do is silence our ability to talk about it, without changing the reality of its
operation. In fact, when there is no longer an ability to talk about it, the human need to engage in
such activities is enhanced. In the 21st century, coming to terms with these questions is part of the
agenda we are dealing with.
Three parallel economies
In the above pages, I have laid out an emerging vision for our 21st century global, zero-growth
economy, as consisting of three distinct economies operating in parallel, with some areas of
overlap. It is useful to try to map out what economic activities are included in each of these
economies. Let us begin with the third economy, and work backwards.
1. The shadow economy
It has already been suggested that the shadow economy includes today’s massive sex trade.
Current estimates put the total value of the pornography industry about close to 20 billion
dollars63. This does not include either prostitution or more deviant aspects of the industry, such as
sexual slavery (part of the prostitution trade). The net value of the combined sex industry is
therefore considerably larger than this, perhaps its double. The majority of prostitution revenues
are “off the books” or “under the table” – as distinct from the pornography industry, they usually
do not pay taxes or function within the consumer economy. This is why it is hard to estimate the
monetary value of this part of the industry. Prostitution is clearly part of today’s shadow
economy, in that it escapes legal controls for the most part. Pornography is more integrated into
our consumer economy, but a sizeable portion of this industry is also not legally registered.
Although criminal activity is not today considered to be an “industry”, within the framework of
this discussion we might legitimately treat it in this way – it certainly “generates” money! The
total value of criminal activity is another statistic that is very hard to compute. Even criminal
activity that is reported (i.e. via “arrested criminals”) is hard to evaluate. However, when
combining the drug trade, various extortion rackets, internet crime, and so on (but excluding the
sex trade, as this has already been discussed), the amount of money involved may be close to that
of the sex trade. Within the ‘industry of crime”, however, we might legitimately include the
police force and the legal profession, resulting in a global value easily commensurate with the sex
trade take as a whole.
As suggested before, a third area we might reasonably consider as being part of a “shadow
economy” is that of psychotherapy, in both its legitimate and its “alternate” manifestations. By
alternate, I am including a variety of “new age” or “alternative medicine” approaches, even body-
based approaches, that seek to help individuals “ground themselves”. Taken as a whole, this
industry is unlikely to be any where near as powerful as either the sex trade or the industry of
crime – its total monetary value might be expected to be at most about a billion dollars.


63
Reference
49
Institutions that deal with illness and disability might constitute a fourth industry that we
could legitimately associate with a shadow economy, even though these organizations today are
not at all associated with “shadowy environments”. This association of the “health industry” with
the “shadow economy” is likely to be controversial at best, but it does reflect a certain reality
within the way we deal with our health (see chapter on Health below). Indeed, in the 19th century,
hospitals were considered to be part of the shadow world, along with workhouses, madhouses,
prisons and bordellos. The association is not without some justification. Today, people often
receive treatment for illness or help for disability only if they meet certain legal requirements
with regard to the intensity of the condition. This leaves a class of individuals disenfranchised,
and this class may still seek various forms of treatment. This treatment, however, is more clearly
situated within the shadow economy.
A fifth sub-economy I’d like to associate with the shadow economy includes the existence of
counter-cultures and splinter economies – groups that “opt out” of other social and economic
arrangements.
Note that I am advocating a kind of acknowledgement of all forms of the shadow economy. I’m
not sure exactly how we may do so with regard to the “industry of crime” nor with parts of the
sex industry, since today, these activities occur outside of our society’s legal bounds. However, it
is worth mentioning that criminal behavior is much more widespread than one would suppose. I
would say that, out of my own acquaintances, I know directly of roughly 30 to 40 %, perhaps
more, who engage in some form of “marginally ethical” behavior that leans towards criminality.
This includes cheating in school, cheating on income tax reporting, cheating on expense account
or insurance claims, engaging in marginally criminal behavior for which there is a guarantee one
cannot be caught, and so on. I think I have engaged in at least one of these forms of criminality
myself. Given this situation, how can we possibly “get away” with locking away people who are
not all that different from ourselves? Our legal system needs a major overhaul, and one that
recognizes that most so-called “criminals” are not fundamentally different than you or I. We need
to find a way to “legitimize” at least the humanity of criminal behavior.
Also, I am expecting that the psychotherapy aspect of the shadow economy shall grow
dramatically as we take on a more active engagement with paradox, both as individuals and
collectively. Also, the splinter economies will grow as we move more into a heterogeneous social
and economic climate. Meanwhile, if we seriously engage with our personal paradoxes, such as
sexuality and our ethics and deviation from these, we should see a reduction in these aspects of
the shadow economy. Nonetheless, overall, it should remain large, albeit with a different balance
of power between the sectors that make it up.
2. The social economy
The social economy consists of those activities that generate more “health” than “wealth”. We
need to find effective ways to evaluate the former contribution over the latter, and stop
pretending that the contribution of the social economy to our world can or even should be
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evaluated in monetary terms64. We need to define an “economy of value” that includes non-
monetary forms of value.
All forms of governance are examples of a segment of the social economy. Today, most of these
activities are included within government, but this is not necessarily the case, indeed,
increasingly it is not. Governance generates value through its actions that structure and
coordinate socio-economic function.
Theology and the offer of religious services are also clearly and widely accepted as parts of our
social economy. Religion generates value via its contribution to community building and
maintenance, and through its commitment to taking care of the needy, the poor, the ill, the
disabled, the underprivileged. Religion may also generate value through its willingness to
challenge unjust behaviors in other organizations.
Translation, interpretation, and intercultural language services, although frequently offered by
businesses, also constitute an increasingly important contribution to the social economy. Often
these services are offered at cost or for relatively modest fees, via government subsidies.
Language services create value via improved communication between groups who would
otherwise find it difficult to communicate, and may also create value by allowing groups to avoid
costly errors due to miscommunication.
Athletics and sports activities are contributions to the social economy, despite the huge amounts
of money that certain of these activities generate. They are therefore sources of both health and
wealth, but they belong in the social economy because they contribute more to health than to
wealth. They promote an engagement with the body, an openness to play, and a spirit of personal
excellence that are widely imitated and inspiring.
Social activism and lobbying organizations are of increasing importance, and they are
increasingly well organized and function as businesses. These are the tradition NGOs. They often
fund themselves through organized fund-raising activities, and then use these funds to exert
influence over governments, sometimes multinationals, and, increasingly, world forums. They
contribute value through effective organization of a collective voice.
Cooperatives and member-based associations are also organizations of increasing importance
in the social economy. They often contribute huge value in community building and organization
as well as the production of monetary wealth, and serve to produce value for their members as
well as society at large.
Internet communities generate huge value in, for example, freely-distributed products such as
software, essays, images, and so on. They contribute to the social economy at the scale of the
planet, rather than via any particular economic region.


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Jane Jacobs, in The Nature of Economies (2001), suggests that certain forms of work we have turned into paid
work, we may need to turn back into unpaid work in order not to sidetrack the goals we wish to achieve by this work.
For when work becomes paid work with an organization, the latter seeks to maximize productivity, whereas for
many forms of work, particularly within the framework of the social economy, we are not seeking productivity, but
other values such as community.
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Artistic production services are important contributors to today’s social economy (here, I
am not talking about mass culture, which is a business enterprise belonging to the consumer
economy). These services include, therefore, theatrical troupes, performance companies,
galleries, small presses, opera houses and so on. They contribute cultural and artistic value and
sensitivity to the wider community.
Research establishments, whether within universities, governments or private organizations are
also a major contributor to the social economy. The value generated by research establishments
includes new knowledge and know-how, and, increasingly, innovation.
Learning services, what we call today educational organizations, are squarely found within the
social economy, where they are heavily subsidized, but as we shall see shortly (and as already
suggested in an earlier chapter), learning services are likely to shift from the social to the
consumer economy. Learning services contribute value in by raising the overall know-how and
effectiveness of individuals in our society.
Transportation services are another activity that could be associated with either the consumer or
the social economy. One might suggest that communal transportation services are part of the
social economy – they require a social commitment on the part of the population to support, but
they contribute to the effectiveness of community living and work arrangements.
Taken together, these different participants in the social economy generate even today net value
in excess of that associated with the shadow economy, although the actual evaluation of the value
contributed is no easier to carry out for this part of the economy than it was for the shadow
economy, albeit for different reasons.
3. The consumer economy
The term “consumer economy” covers everything else, but, in general, this is what we term the
“economy” today. Hence the consumer economy includes most of what were, in another epoch,
the “guild trades” – manufacturing, textiles, food services, natural resource exploitation,
engineering, caretaking trades, telecommunications, banking and finance, insurance, real estate,
and so on. Within the consumer economy, although value other than monetary is created, this
value serves the interests and needs of the population directly, and hence is transformed into
money through exchange. I do not mean to suggest by placing this economy last on my list, that it
is the least important (or that the shadow economy is the most important). On the contrary, I have
presented the list in this order because it is easier to identify the shadow economy, and, to a lesser
extent, the social economy, than to pin down the consumer economy. The consumer economy is
the most mature of the three, and the most complex. It remains the motor of large parts of the
economy – it is simply destined to become only one motor among several.
A period of transition
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In the period leading up to the new millenium, Asia entered to world economy as a major
unit. Sometime in the next thirty years, Africa will do likewise. Eastern Europe, also, will
become an increasingly important player. These critical moments will bring about (are already
bringing about) dramatic changes in our global economy. Already, the presence of the Asian
economy is causing shifts in western national economies. As each major unit comes on-line, it
will begin by taking over the transformation of primary goods into service goods, since these
economies will begin by being less effective in the 21st century knowledge economy, but more
effective in 20th century manufacturing. As their societies re-organize and the educational levels
improve, however, they will play an ever more important role in the 21st century economy. The
result will be a shift in the first world towards less reliance on manufacturing techniques inherited
from the earlier century, and more reliance on the creative cultural economy that will increasingly
emerge in the 21st.
Samuel Brittan highlights some of the economic turmoil characteristic of the period leading to
zero growth :
“The real difficulty is that, coming in response to shocks, a structural slowdown
would hit different industries very differently. We have already had a foretaste of
that in the misfortunes of the aviation and travel industries, far exceeding those of
the rest of the economy. The policy problems are the familiar ones of how to
compensate the victims of economic misfortune without putting a brake on all
structural change.”65
Jay Earley writes about the situation we live in now.
“We have a burgeoning global economy, producing unparalleled material
affluence and at the same time an appalling exploitation of the disenfranchised,
reminiscent of the worst early days of capitalism. We enjoy a proliferation of
wondrous, easily affordable consumer products, while many people are isolated
from the joys of community and family, living empty lives of striving and
alienation. We continue to see great intellectual and scientific advances while at
the same time our private lives are bereft of meaning, creativity, spirituality and
other qualities that make life worth living.”66
This period of transition represents, indeed, significant opportunities for “getting rich quick”,
although as we progress forward, there will be a growing shift in social awareness and values
from “wealth” to “health”. The window of opportunity for large profit based on the huge
disparities within the world economy as large new sectors of society come “on line” is probably
narrower than we realize. Although the opportunities will continue to exist, the growing
awareness of a broad public and its unwillingness to sit back and “let things happen” will lead to
a climate unfavorable to such action and may, even, result in a changing legal environment that
renders such actions inoperable.


65
Ibid.
66
Jay Earley, A Future Society Must Integrate Current Contradictions,
http://www.earley.org/Transformation/future_society.htm, cited June 2006.
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Towards a post-sustainable economy
The new zero-growth economy will involve profound changes in reorganization of our lives.
Samuel Brittan67 writes :
“A slowdown in economic growth which reflects a change in taste is a very different
animal to one which reflects a deficiency of purchasing power. If people want to buy less, they should - ultimately and rationally - also want to work less. A structural growth slowdown need not therefore be accompanied by a large increase in involuntary
unemployment. Instead of balancing at a high rate of growth, the economic system would
balance at a low rate or at zero. In the extreme case people would envoy the benefits of technological progress entirely in the form of reduced working hours rather than in
increased take-home pay. The efficient organisation of production would mean supplying
static wants with the minimum of working hours.” Nonetheless, the resulting system would still permit excess: “Although the resulting system would not look much like capitalism as we know it, there would still be great advantages in retaining competitive markets. People who did not share the anti-consumption, anti-work ethos could - as Keynes indicated so long ago - opt in to the consumer society without disturbing their neighbours; and there could still be luxury hotels or ocean cruises for those who wanted them and who were prepared to work more than average to obtain them.”68 Jay Earley also writes about the need to work within what he calls contradictions (and I call paradox) :
“We need a new form of capitalism that is democratic and ecological. It’s not a question of free trade vs. community health. We need an economy that is global and local at the same time. It’s not a question of multiculturalism vs. preserving our cultural heritage; we need both. Gender equality doesn’t mean erasing the difference between the sexes; it means valuing both the masculine and the feminine. Embracing intuition and spirit shouldn’t mean discarding rational, linear thinking. We need systemic, dialectical thinking that is also grounded in the heart and the spirit.”69