Nick Johnson — Neither socialism nor market fundamentalism

Geoffrey Hodgson quote from Economics and Utopia. Hodgson is Research Professor of Business Studies in the University of Hertfordshire, and also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Institutional Economics. He is a prominent institutionalist.

Neither the individual nor the state can be omniscient. What is remarkable about both socialism (in a traditional sense) and market individualism is that they both presume a high degree of capability and enlightenment on the part of one or the other.

As I have been saying, utopian systems need to be populated with agents whose collective level of consciousness is advanced and reflected in not only the quality of the institutions they create but also the operation of these institutions.

As society cannot get ahead of its level of collective consciousness, regardless of its aspirations. Visions must be actualized and actualization depends in the self-actualiztion of the agents. Otherwise utopian thinking is just utopianism.

The key fundamental of social development in the direction of ideal society is addressing the level of collective consciousness through culture and institutions, eduction in particular. The higher the level of collective consciousness the more functional the society and the lower the level, the more dysfunctional.

The Political Economy of Development
Neither socialism nor market fundamentalism
Nick Johnson