Competition And Self Interest - The Ultimate Group Strategy

The 18th Century economist Adam Smith espoused the notion that: competition is a positive force in the world. Such that it allows people to express their natural tendency to strive toward improving of their own lot, with competition resulting in a better society as whole.

However in modern times, from the school playground to the corporate boardroom, we see a sneering and denigrating attitude displayed towards self-interest and by de facto competition.

At this point, some observers may completely disagree with me, and point out that capitalism is geared towards competition. It rewards and celebrates it in equal measure; the more competitive you are. the more sumptuous your feast at the capitalist table.

However I say that perhaps at one point the idea of rewarding competition was an ideal that was upheld. This is no longer the case, the idea of true competition has become toxic within our current capitalist paradigm, and this needs to change, in fact, this is changing.

The 17th Century philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that societal control was the only answer to the evils of self-interest and competition. He believed that competition appealed to the
worst in people, ultimately destroying the most valuable parts of the human experience.

I would say that the overall world view at this time in history, is more in line with Hobbes's negative views towards self-interest and competition.

The thought intrigued me enough to see if any studies have been carried out, gauging people's attitudes towards competition as a social tool; and indeed there have.

More on that shortly, for now, let's talk about what I see as...

The Killing Of Competition

I went to school in the 1970s, 80s and some of the 90s in London, England, and as much as a child can fully appreciate social attitudes, I have seen big changes.

In my mind competition, and the celebrating of the individual was supported far more then than it is now. At some point in the last 30 or so years, self-interest and competitiveness have been joined together in an unholy matrimony by a vitriolic press, and a willing public.

In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Thatcher was a big believer in Adam Smith, and often espoused his views on individualism and the state. She famously said "...there is no such thing as society", when talking of the responsibility of the individual over a nebulous concept such as society.

This statement, and subsequent political actions, saw the Conservative party, dubbed by the press as the; nasty party.

This soundbite induced headline personalised competition and self-interest like never before. Whilst Thatcher may have argued that she neither praised nor denigrated competitive self-interest, merely recognised it. Ironically from her standpoint; that statement, along with what many saw as unfeeling policies, played some part in the killing of competition.

The Worst PR Campaign For Competition And Self Interest - Global Corporations

The 1980s also brought with it the revamped notion of corporatism, which has its roots in 19th century Catholicism, and originally had nothing to do with business interests.

The original notion of corporatism was that the society and economy of a country should be organized into major interest groups (sometimes called corporations) and representatives of those interest groups settle any problems through negotiation and joint agreement.

In contrast to a market economy which operates through competition, a corporate economic works through collective bargaining. The American president Lyndon Johnson had a favorite phrase that reflected the spirit of corporatism. He would gather the parties to some dispute and say,

"Let us reason together."

However with the new corporatism, came new kinds of corruption. Quite aside of political manipulation, a new kind of collusion was to emerge. Secret monopolies were forged between large rivals, to keep out the plethora of smaller ones. Better the devil you know...

Time and time again we have seen corporations involved in price fixing, be it libor rates by banks or fuel surcharges by airlines. These actions and ones like them, are of course, anti-competition, and indeed we have anti-competition laws in place; and therein lies the problem.

Some may say it's semantics, however words are the tools we use to make sense of the world outside of our own heads. We use them to communicate meaning, and therefore, if we use words that convey a certain meaning, when we intend to say another thing altogether; that's when we're really in trouble.

So laws that have been made to stop anti-competitive behaviour, have been shortened and simplified to anti-competition laws. As if competition itself is the enemy, however if we rationalise further, it is self-interest that is seen as the problem. Competition is fine, however it's those nasty corporations out for themselves that is the problem.

Aha! Now we're getting closer to the truth of our societal psychosis, deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole we go...

Capitalism - Merging Self And Society

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In Western Capitalist societies, we are taught from an early age about the value of cooperation; via our parents, and even the TV. (I can't think of that Big Yellow Bird, without hearing the word cooperation, spoken by many young voices.)

Then in schools we wear the same uniform of our peers, as a way of balancing out the peaks and troughs of individualism. After we leave our schools to go on to higher education or paid employment, we attain a more subtle uniform of conformity to the group.

At a guess, the words; team player, are probably the most overused words in the history of job applications and CVs.

This path to groupdom, is a tried and tested one, it matters not whether it is the conformity of capitalism, communism or religion. Whichever paradigm you are in, the result is the same, the eradication of self, for the ultimate benefit of the group, the very antithesis of self-interest.

However this one world view that the group is the be-all and end-all of our success, is to miss a crucial point.

Without the individual, there is no group.

Group Happiness

In religion we see a similar anti-individual message being profigated, we are told that the pursuits of the flesh, from which derive competition and self-interest, are somehow debase, not worthy of our true attention. Instead we are to take ourselves selflessly into the world, and think of our fellow humans and most of all God, above our own wretched lives.

Whether we are being told to be at one with the universe, be humble and to turn away from pride, or be poor and enter heaven easily; the underlying message is essentially the same. The enemy of the group, is the individual seeking to gain competitive advantages, over other individuals in the collective.

The rhetoric of holy texts and philosophies, just like those of communism and capitalism, have blurred the difference between self-interest, and selfishness.

These two things have come to be one of the same thing in the minds of many humans, living in many different societies across the globe, and just like non-competitive sports, no good can come of this way of thinking.

All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different holidays.

~ Cathy Ladman

Below are the results of a global study on people's attitude to self-interest and competition. Citizens of 81 different countries over 2 years were asked to record their views on competition.

They were asked to rate their answers from 1, (Competition is good. It stimulates people to work hard and develop new ideas); to 10 (Competition is bad. It brings out the worst in people).

The results have been simplified, with much of the data removed, however it is interesting to note, that the most group-orientated countries, who have at present or in the past, embraced communism or religious uniformity. Are the very same countries that have the highest negative attitudes towards self-interest and competition.

Although we can also see that it is not just the communist and ultra-religious countries with this attitude. It is entirely pervasive, just to different degrees.

Three Cheers For Self-Interest!

The conclusions we can draw, are that self-interest and selfishness are not one of the same thing. However sometimes they will be perceived that way, either because of social background noise, or because the defining lines are not always clear.

With this blurring comes also the misunderstanding of competition, which in itself has been used as a tool in nature to advance every species on the planet.

We are told that we should not "hate the player, but hate the game", however it is neither, as long as rules that ultimately are for the betterment of the group, are adhered to, we should embrace the players and the game.

Moving into this new technological, and economical paradigm that we see stretching out in front of us. We should look to encourage self-interest and competition at every level, because time and time again throughout history, we have seen rampant self-interest, mixed with healthy competition, turn into group interest.

So three cheers for competitive self-interest!

Sources:

How Competition Is Viewed Across Cultures - A Test of Four Theories R. David Hayward Markus Kemmelmeier - University of Nevada

Corporatism Lyndon B. Johnson source

Cryptogee

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? IS COMPETITION AND SELF INTEREST THE DRIVING FORCE OF SOCIETY OR OUR ULTIMATE DOWNFALL? LET ME KNOW BELOW!