Reconstructing sustainable communities: responding to (self)destructions of consumerism

1. Reconstructing sustainable communities: responding to (self)destructions of consumerism Márta B. Erdős Department of SocialWork and Social Policy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs erdos.marta@pte.hu

2. Another ghost in the machine… • Gregory Bateson (1972): the unit of survival is a flexible species in a flexible environment. “The creature that wins against its environment destroys itself.” (p. 493.) • A fallacy of exclusion (part/whole) is in the background of today’s severe ecological and social problems. • Human beings are not rational but rationalizing animals. (Aronson, 1968, p. 6.) • Misperceptions and misconceptions (understood as deviations from the Batesonian meta-pattern /Khattar, Wien, 2012/) are not awarded by Evolution in the long run.

3. Short-sighted view on our interests –> facing long term problems “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”Edward Abbey • What do we mean by development and value? • Economic growth and the advancement of technologies? • Costs and benefits: relative safety and welfare for few; but growing inequalities and exploitation for many (20:80; Martin and Schumann, 1997). Severe ecological hazards endangering our planet.

4. Helplessness and passivity discourses • Consumer society discourses are inherently paradoxical. Values of autonomy, freedom, solidarity and care are emphasized; but he same values are simultaneously invalidated by hedonistic and fragmented hyper-reality messages. (Firat, 1991) • Deficit language (e.g. anti-discrimination vs. tolerance) (Cooperrider, Whitney, 1999) • Double-bind discourse (what is required is sanctioned, B. Erdős, Kelemen 2011) & other forms of manipulation • Results: Loss of autonomy and courage for life; fears result scapegoating and lack of social solidarity.

5. Three major responsibilities • Responsibility for ourselves (care of self) • Responsibility for the community (solidarity) • Responsibility for the future. Generativity: leaving a valuable personal legacy for the next generation; conceiving one’s life as meaningful and purposeful; belief in the species; intergenerational constitution. (Kruse, Schmitt, 2012; McAdams et al., 1997; Gál, Gulyás, Medgyessy, 2011; Erikson, 1959)

6. Distorted social constructions on care and responsibility • Consumer societies = addictive societies.The primary subject-object relation is reversed: human identities are produced by the commodities they consume. The problem of control (the subject /product/ controlstheperson; demonization; Firat, 1991) • The irresponsibility of the addict (the character structure of consumerism) • The destructive and controlling dominance and paternalism of the co-dependent person (B. Erdős, Kiss, 2012) • Toomany„heroes”fordailytasksindicate a pathologicalstate of society (Hankiss, 1983) • RESPONSIBILITIY – CONTROL – GUILT (Socialconstructions)

7. A systemicviewonresponsibility • Relational responsibility (McNamee, Gergen, 1999) relies on the natural interdependence of human relationships and can be realized through empowerment and enablement. • Balance between the individual and the community: less social expenditures and a more meaningful (generative) life. (Lakatos, 2009) • Processes of empowerment and enablement as necessary preconditions are generated in the community and the results can be maintained only in the community. (Lakatos, 2009)

8. Motives & personalideologies: Hedonism vs. eudaimonia • Hedonism: pleasure of the senses; pursuit of happiness and refusal of any sufferings. Right to the maximum of pleasure (the ideology consumerism) • Eudaimonia: having a good genius; happy in the sense of „blessed”; ethical (i. e., acknowledging and realizing interdependence) (Horváth, 2008) • Antonovsky (1987): SOC (meaningfulness, comprehensibility, manageability) • Csikszentmihályi (1990): autotelic personality

9. Stories of redemption (McAdams et al., 1997) • Redemption: an early family blessing (talent or attachment) indicating that the world is a place where people care…; • Early sensitivity to others’ sufferings; • Stable personal philosophy and commitment, • „bad” or tragic episodes turn out to be a blessing: second chances; • Community commitments; • Stories of redemption are not always happy stories: but the initial bad experience is followed by good outcomes. (Meaningful life)

10. 3Rsaslessonsfrom a systemic perspective • Ecology: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle • Society = reconstructivecommunitydialogue: Resilient, Responsible,Resourceful. „we can see that the problem represented by others is our problem, that the line that divides each of us from others is the same line that divides us from ourselves: for whatever story comes to be told in the end, it is of us that it speaks. And this awareness is essentially generative of a tolerance that is not merely a gift or a donation or a concession to others – which as such would at most be a moralistic project – but rather is constitutive of reason and of our own salvation. Not just the avoidance of violence towards others but also the redemption of the violence in ourselves.” (Gargani, 1998)

11. Reference • Antonovsky, A. (1987) Unraveling The Mystery of Health - How People Manage Stress and Stay Well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. • Aronson, E. (1968) 'Dissonancetheory: progress and problems,' in R.P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W.J. McGuire, T.M. Newcomb, M.J. Rosenberg, and P.H. Tannenbaum (eds), Theories of CognitiveConsistency:A Sourcebook. Chicago, IL: RandMcNelly p.5-27. • B. Erdos, M., Kelemen, G. (2011) The FiniteUniverse: DiscursiveDoubleBind and ParrhesiainStateSocialism. In: History of Communism. (2) 281-308. • B. Erdős M. - Kiss Sz.: A gondoskodás jelentésének változása a felépülés során során(2012) Szociális Szemle (5) 18-32 • Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. • Cooperrider, D. L., Whitney, D.(1999): AppreciativeInquiry. Berrett-KochlerCommunications Inc., San Francisco. • Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály (1990), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York: Harper and Row. • Erikson, Erik H. (1959): Identity and the Life Cycle. Growth and Crises of theHealthyPersonality. New York: International Universities Press. New York: Norton, 50-101. • Firat, A. F. (1991) The ConsumerinPostmodernity. AdvancesinConsumerResearc. 18. 70-76. • Gál, R. I., Gulyás, A. Medgyesi, M. (2011) IntergenerációsAlkotmány. Budapest: TÁRKI-NemzetiFenntarthatóFejlődésiTanulmányok No. 5. • Gargani, A.(1998): ReligiousExperienceasEvent and Interpretation. In: Derrida, J., Vattimo, G. (eds.): Religion. Stanford University Press, Stanford. 111-134. • Hankiss, E.(1983): Társadalmi csapdák. Diagnózisok. Magvető, Budapest. • Horvath, A, (2008) What Kind of Political Anthropology: Turning Iconoclasm into Golden Age. International Political Anthropology 2. 255-261. • Khattar, R, Wien, C. A. (2012): Illness and theConceptAestheticResponsivenessinEarlyChildhoof Education. Journal of theCanadainAssociationof Curriculum Studies. 10 (2) 69-91. • Kruse, A, Schmitt, E. (2012) Generativityas a RoutetoActiveAgeing. CurrentGerontology and Geriatrics Research. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cggr/2012/647650/ • Lakatos, K. (2009). A képessé tétel folyamata. Budapest: Közösségfejlesztők Egyesülete. • Martin, Hans-Peter and Schumann, Harald (1997). The Global Trap: Globalization and the Assault on Prosperity and Democracy. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press • McAdams, D.P., Diamond, A., de St. Aubin, E., , Mansfield, E. (1997). Stories of commitment: The psychosocial construction of generative lives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 678-94. • McNamee, S., Gergen, K.(1999):RelationalResponsibility. ResourcesforSustainableDialogue. Sage, ThousandOaks. 3-57.