A couple of days ago, I wrote a blog post that highlighted some of Rodney Clapp's points about capitalism and the family in his book, Families at the Crossroads, and his chapter, "Advanced Capitalism & the Lost Art of Family.
This post showed how the industrial revolution changed the family from a whole economic unit, in which all family members and household servants worked together to produce crops or goods from a trade, to a family in which the husband/father worked in a factory to provide income, while the wife/mother and kids stayed at home. Increasingly, this created a secular/sacred divide, in which work was in the dark world and devoid of God, and the home was a privatized, nuclear family, religious, and feminized retreat.
This sacred-secular divide and the separation of families certainly was the effect of the industrial revolution, which was a byproduct of capitalism. It is an effect that has been exacerbated in recent decades. However, capitalism existed before the industrial revolution, and it did not always have this effect. Thus, it might be more accurate for Clapp to say that the industrial revolution--which is a natural byproduct of capitalism--led to these changes.
In this chapter, Clapp also highlights other influences that capitalism has had upon the family; however, I would label these influences more specifically as "consumerism," a subtopic that Clapp addresses in his chapter. Wikipedia defines consumerism in the following way:
- "Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts."
- "In economics consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society."
Clapp says that "We have come to see and conduct not just the bartering of bread and soap but the whole of our lives in the ways of the market." What would a consumeristic mindset do to the family?
- Consumerism has made us view relationships as an "economic exchange."
Clapp says that in this mindset, "I will be your friend or your spouse--or attend your church--because you amuse me or enhance my mental health. But if you fail to 'meet my needs' . . . I am probably wisest to seek another friend or spouse."
- Consumerism has led to an increase in divorce.
Believe it or not the rate of divorce in the US in the early 1860 was 1 out of 1000. source: see Family Ministry by Charles M. Sell, p. 42 I know that many have unfortunately suffered from harsh judgmental churches and individuals who have gone through a divorce. But the widespread nature of divorce has been a destructive force in our society.
Clearly if people used to stay together, they could stay together. One of the forces pulling marriages apart is the societal message which repeatedly says to us, you deserve it. You should get what you want. If something (including a marriage partner) doesn't work, throw it away and buy a new, improved model. If this is the overall societal message, is it any wonder that this has impacted how we view marriage?
Clapp says, "Family wrought in the image of the market puts a premium on novelty rather than fidelity. People marry because the marriage will serve their interests as they understand them at the moment. There is no predicting how I may grow and change, or how my mate may. Commitment can therefore only be tenuous and heavily qualified. Like any careful contract, our marriage should continually be open to reevaluation. If at any point it fails to promote the self-actualization of one of another spouse, we must have available the option of ending the partnership. Consquently, under the economic exchange model, serial polygamy . . . is a perfectly sensible practice. It is immoral to fail to become all I can become as a person . . . So in fact I have a moral obligation to divorce and seek a new mate if my original wife can no longer promote my growth and self-actualization."
- Consumerism has caused us to devalue children.
Clapp says, "under the economic exchange model it is difficult to say why we should have children in the first place. Remember that in this model of life the ethic is above all one of individualism and autonomy, of keeping my choices open. This makes it irrational to bear a child, since children represent a commitment of several years. A child will limit my mobility, dictate the spending of much of my money and create "agendas" I would otherwise never have imagined for myself."
Many financial magazines (and life magazines) give the "economic cost" of having a child, putting the cost of a raising a child at several hundred thousand dollars. Even middle class to wealthy Americans think of whether or not they can "afford" to have children. Once we have them, of course, we would not trade them for anything, but is it not sad to think of children in this way? What a sad contrast this is to Rachel, who when she had no children, said to Jacob, "Give me children or I will die" (Gen. 30:1).
It is surely no coincidence that as birth control came on the market and consumerism rose in the US, increasingly, couples chose to have fewer children. (That includes our family. Becki and I have two precious children. My parents had four, and her parents had five.)
Out of all of the flawed, human, economic systems out there, I would want to live under capitalism. But we must be aware of the consumerism that is now run a muck in our society which is harmful for families. Cultural and societal forces are so much "in the water" that we are often unaware of how they impact our thinking. We see a thousand billboards everyday that say, "It's all about you" and we unthinkingly take this message home to our family relationships. Paul says, "2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:1). Let us not conform to our consumeristic world, but value our friendships, marriages, and children--no matter what they "cost" us.
How do you see that consumerism has affected how we view friendships, marriages, and children?
You need to be a member of Missional Outreach Network for the Missional Church to add comments!
Join Missional Outreach Network for the Missional Church