This
Friday series is based on a paper I wrote for my Systematic Theology 2
class earlier in the year. It was a reaction piece to the book The Good of Affluence ,
by John R. Schneider and represents my own personal wrestling with the
contemporary expression of capitalism: consumer capitalism.
In light of the current economic crises and meltdown, I thought I would
post this each Friday for the next 6 weeks. Enjoy the repost and I hope
it helps challenge you in your thoughts and conclusions on capitalism.
The Series
1. Introduction
2. Is Affluence The Point
3. Consumerism: The End Result of Sin Marked-Capitalism
4. Globalization and the Brown Man’s Burden
5. Globalization and Moral Proximity
6. Conclusion
GLOBALIZATION AND THE BROWN MAN’S BURDEN
In the previous examples it is obvious that corporations, and even cities, have taken advantage of people groups around the world to maximize delight for the American consumer culture, and their bottom-line. Corporations that drive the American economy, and thus feed the American consumer appetite, have built themselves on the backs of the Global Brown Man, with little thought given to the consequences of their construction efforts. Unfortunately, Schneider fails to give due discourse to the responsibility of the powerful within American society to those on whom we’ve built an entire economy. If the American economy is built upon consumption–seventy percent of that economy is personal consumption–then do we not have a responsibility to those who have aided us in that building? In an age where all economies are tightly integrated, American Christians need to give greater thought to how we use the Other to fulfill our consumer predilections. While the author seems to find trouble accepting our responsibilities to other nations, we need to consider the affects of sinful forms of capitalism and discuss redemptive ways to reverse the affects of that sin.
In addressing that Christian responsibility to the global poor, Schneider exegetes Amos in relationship to “normal Western Christian” participation in the global economy. According to Schneider, Amos aimed his diatribe at the rulers of Israel and the class of ruling elites that extended the arm of the king. It was their responsibility to care for the economic conditions of the poor in society, and they failed to live out that responsibility. Even the wives of those rulers and ruling classes were condemned, because they used the profits of that misery to indulge themselves. Everyone involved, from the king down to the partners of the ruling class, were complicit in and responsible for the exploitation and oppression of the people they were suppose to have served. But in relating the sin of oppression of the rulers of Israel to Western Christians, Schneider declares, “It seems fairly obvious that what these rich people in Amos did was as deeply evil as it could be under the circumstances. But is it at all obvious that ordinary Christans are routinely committing evils comparable to theirs? Is it clear that the behavior [Ron] Sider describes [in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger]–giving too little a percentage of their income to the global poor–is anything like what Israel’s ruling class did in spiritual and moral quality?” Unfortunately, the author does not explain why Western Christians are not somewhat guilty of the same negligence as the wives of Israel and the oppression of the ruling elites.
If we were to think redemptively about consumer capitalism, we might ask: When a Christian grandmother purchases a sweater at Gap made by an Indian 10 year old for her teenage grandson, is she not at least somewhat complicit in that Indian child’s suffering? Or when a Christian college student buys a pound of Guatemala Antigua Blend coffee from Starbucks for $12.95 for his late night study sessions, does he not in someway pronounce a blessing upon the Mighty Siren for the $.40 a pound they gave the Guatemalan farmer which perpetuates his life of poverty? What we the hyper-globally connected First World should consider is how our interactions with and use of the global poor differ in spiritual and moral quality than the exploitation and oppression Israel’s ruling class bore upon their own poor. If Western multinational corporations and national economies have built their entire businesses and economies upon the cheap labor and products of the underdeveloped world, are we not responsibile to those people?
While Schneider completely ignores issues of personal buying responsibility with seeming ease, failing to even acknowledge the connection between Western and developing economies, we can redeem the system by reconsidering how and where we shop. For instance, Grand Rapids church decided it was time to fairly compensate coffee farmers for a staple of the American culture. Instead of buying beans through corrupt coffee brokers, they are investing in a coffee growing family in Honduras, and return 100% of the profits back into that community at a value of $10 a pound. There goal is to fight corruption and greed in the coffee industry that results from American consumer capitalism, and is one way Christians can redeem the affects of the fall on capitalism. Before we can help, however, we must recognize our responsibility to our global neighbor and realize our buying patterns contribute somewhat to the injustice and oppression thousands of people face beneath the weight of a broken economic system.
