{"id":39077,"date":"2024-10-24T10:01:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39077"},"modified":"2024-10-24T10:12:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:12:38","slug":"christian-response-to-the-commodification-of-labor-land-and-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/christian-response-to-the-commodification-of-labor-land-and-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposing the dark to light: the Christian response to the commodification of labor, land, and money"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the summer, Netflix released a film entitled Fly Me to the Moon<\/em>. The story is set against the backdrop of the Space Race, the\u00a0Apollo 11 mission, and the task given to fictitious marketing expert\u00a0Kelly Jones to create a fake moon landing in case the mission failed. I do not want to spend much time on the storyline, but I want to highlight a quote from the film that felt relevant to this week\u2019s readings. When discussing the government order to create a fake moon landing, agent Moe Berkus says to Jones, \u201cThis is not a space race,<\/strong> but <\/strong>a battle for which ideology gets to run this country.\u201d<\/strong>[1]<\/a> Much like\u00a0the backdrop of Netflix\u2019s previously mentioned period comedy, set in an era plagued by war and competition between rival countries, Karl Polanyi delivers The Great Transformation, <\/em>a book of economic history and political economy. Ultimately, Polanyi\u2019s work concerns the dominant economic ideology battling to run the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Published in 1944, Polanyi\u2019s work concentrates on the development of the market economy in the 19th century.[2]<\/a> Joseph Stiglitz writes concerning Polanyi, \u201cAmong his central theses are the ideas that self-regulating markets never work; their deficiencies, not only in their internal workings but also in their consequences (e.g., for the poor), are so great that government intervention becomes necessary.\u201d[3]<\/a> Essentially, a fully self-regulating market does not exist. Markets are influenced by various factors, including government policies, regulations, social dynamics, and economic power imbalances, which prevent them from being genuinely self-regulating. Thus, Polanyi argues that the market and society are inherently linked and cannot be disembedded from each other. However, when actors attempt to free the market from society, social instability occurs, activating a double movement<\/em> to bring the economy back in line with social needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Polanyi presents many complex ideas that are outside the scope of this post. However, I will focus on Polanyi\u2019s concern regarding the fictitious commodities of labor, land, and money, considering Jason Clark\u2019s Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnoses of Pathogeneses in the Relationship <\/em>and how Evangelicals respond to the forces at work within the development of Capitalism in terms of co-creation, co-option, and resistance.[4]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The twenty-first-century Western Evangelical must grapple with the reality of the abuse of Polanyi\u2019s fictitious commodities\u2014labor, land, and money. Clark writes, \u201cPolanyi views the formation of capitalist markets as a process in which Christian understandings of human relationships and responsibilities towards each other are replaced with the \u2018secular religion\u2019 of the market.\u201d[5]<\/a> This is evidenced in the attempt to create a disembedded, fully self-regulated economy. Stiglitz writes, \u201c\u2026creating a fully self-regulating market economy requires that human beings and the natural environment be turned into pure commodities[6]<\/a>, which assures the destruction of both society and the natural environment.\u201d[7]<\/a> History bears witness to this reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

An example of the destruction of society and the natural environment is the Russell Lee Power and Light<\/em> exhibition at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. This exhibit reveals the horrific housing, medical, and community facilities of America\u2019s bituminous coal mining communities. The survey was conducted by Navy personnel in 1946 as part of a strike-ending agreement negotiated between the Department of the Interior and the United Mine Workers of America.[8]<\/a> Without going into more detail, this exhibit affirms Polanyi\u2019s concerns regarding the self-regulated market economy and its commodification of people and the environment. Labor and land were exploited for the sake of free markets. The Power and Light<\/em> exhibit example\u00a0further supports Polanyi\u2019s double movement<\/em> theory, as government intervention was required to bring the economy back in line with social needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the beginnings of the market economy, the West has perpetrated innumerable abuses (e.g., labor, land, and money). However, the self-regulating market ideology, which enables the exploitation of fictitious commodities, remains at the heart of Western economic policy. Clark writes, \u201cIn this, perhaps, we see the ontological belief that it is the market that will \u2018save us,\u2019\u2019 and not the addressing of the failings of human nature in relationship to goods and markets, the latter of which should be the primary concern of the Christian.\u201d [9]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Today, we are witnessing a battle for which ideology gets to run things, the \u201csecular religion\u201d of the market. As a Christian, I often find it overwhelming to think of the harm caused by the\u00a0failings of human nature in relationships to goods and markets. Nearly everything in modern society, even seemingly harmless products like coffee and chocolate, hides a dark history of commodification of labor, land, and money. Sadly, I often feel powerless to make any real impact. However, as I pondered the Evangelical response in considering Polanyi and Clark\u2019s texts, I was reminded of Ephesians 5:12-16 (NIV), \u201cBut everything exposed by the light becomes visible \u2013and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: \u2018Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.\u2019 Be very careful, then, how you live \u2013 not as the unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.\u201d As Christians, professionals, and doctoral students, we are working to expose the darkness to light. God has given each of us unique gifts and positions to bring awareness and \u201cwake the sleeper from the dead.\u201d Let this be our encouragement to persevere as we work to expose darkness and see redeemed human relationships between God, goods, and markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> Savannah Walsh, \u201cFly Me to the Moon: How a Stanley Kubrick Conspiracy Theory Inspired the Film,\u201d Vanity Fair, July 12, 2024, https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/story\/fly-me-to-the-moon-true-story-stanley-kubrick-conspiracy-theory<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Karl Polanyi.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 19, 2024. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Karl-Polanyi.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957), Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Jason Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship,\u201d\u00a0Faculty Publications \u2013 Portland Seminary. 132, 2018), 122. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Clark, 125.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> See Polanyi, The Great Transformation<\/em>, Land, labor, and money are fictitious commodities because they were not originally produced to be sold on a market. Labor is simply the activity of human beings, land is subdivided nature, and the supply of money and credit in modern societies is necessarily shaped by governmental policies. Modern economics starts by pretending that these fictitious commodities will behave in the same way as real commodities, but Polanyi insists that this sleight of hand has fatal consequences. It means that economic theorizing is based on a lie, and this lie places human society at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation<\/em>, Kindle Edition. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> National Archives, \u201cPower & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey,\u201d https:\/\/visit.archives.gov\/whats-on\/explore-exhibits\/power-light-russell-lees-coal-survey<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Clark, 147.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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