Towards Establishment of a Moral Economy - Essay Example

Towards Establishment of a Moral Economy Table of Content Concept of a Moral Economy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03 History of Efforts for Establishing a Moral Economy ----------------------------------------------- 03 Foundations of Social Responsibility and Business Ethics ------------------------------------------ 05 Requirements of Macro Elements for a Moral Economy ------------------------------------------- 05 Challenges for Establishment of a Moral Economy ----------------------------------------------------- Works Cited ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concept of a Moral Economy: The concept of moral economy is not a new one for the readers. For the first time in the historical context, E.P Thomson worked on different perspectives of the moral economy. Thompson believes that the moral economy is actually a set of attitudes and behaviors, which is complex in its nature but really beneficial for the social group. These attitudes and behaviors are actually based on the norms of justice and sometimes equality. The term of moral economy is used to highlight the rebellious peasants of the rural areas who were not getting equality and the due rights in the society. Just for the sake of their rights, some of the people who were in favor of the justice and equality for all raised their voices and thus the concept of moral economy were developed. There are different characteristics or the attributes, which can make any economy a moral and justified economy. The researchers are of the opinion that any economy can be perfect and moral just because of the implications and the practices in that particular duration. There are three main types of economies based on the practices and the implications, i.e. Socialism, capitalism and the communism. Usually if we look over all the concepts and the attitudes of a socialist economy then we can say that socialism is the best moral economy. History of Efforts for Establishing a Moral Economy: If we look at the historical perspectives of the establishment of a moral economy, the different sociologists have worked a lot on this discussion. The one common point of all the researchers is the basic foundation of a moral economy. According to their point of view, the economic activities influenced by the sentiments, values, norms, and other just thought patterns might contribute to make a moral economy. The contributions of different authors are discussed here in detail; Adam Smith: Adam Smith wrote two books containing great and inspirational concepts about the establishment of a moral economy. One book ‘Wealth of the Nations’ is directly related to the ethical standards of an economy whereas the other book ‘The Moral System’ gives a general frame work for the foundation of an economic system. In both of his writings, Smith has tried to formulate general rules of justice and laws that should be implemented in an economic system. Adam Smith has even tried to pin point the process that can motivate the people to adopt ethical and moral laws so that they can work their best for the establishment of a moral economy at least on individual basis. Another high point of Smith writings is the formulation of two distinctive sets of virtues i.e. commercial virtues that includes justice, prudence and frugality etc. while the other are the nobler virtues that includes gratitude, generosity, benevolence, kindness and pity for others. John Locke: John Locke is another famous historical economist who worked on the ethical and moral standards regarding property and stock issues and concerns. Lock gave theories on the rules of property, privatization and the ways to increase the share in the property. The concerns about the property were very important in his era not for the public but for every single person in the economy irrespective of poor or rich. The famous theory of Lock says that the ownership of a property comes under the name of the person who is the actual labor on it. That means if any person is bearing a pain by working on a piece of property than it is his possession. Karl Marx: Karl Marx is famous for his modern and contemporary concepts of a moral economy. The critics say that Marx actually rejected the concepts of ethics from the economic systems rather in actual, Marx juts refined the concepts of ethical standards in the capitalistic economy because the capitalistic economy is facing some challenges regarding the ethical and moral implications in its practices. We can say that different historical economists have played their role very well in the establishment of the standards of economies, no matter the type of economy, but we have clear rules and laws for each type of economy either it is socialism, communalism or capitalism. Foundations of Social Responsibility and Business Ethics: When we talk about the foundation of a moral economy then it does not just imply to any particular business or institution. Rather this may apply to the macro environment of any economy. However, the rules and standards of social responsibility and the business ethics may remain same but it is implacable to the whole economy, so that the entire environment can be ethical and moral including every single person and institution of the economy. The foundation of social responsibility and the ethics is simply laid on the principals of what is wrong and what is right. One must be able to differentiate these tow conditions on his individual level and thus the entire economy will be in appositive direction just because of the reason that every person is in a right direction. In this way, it is important that people must have the knowledge about the social responsibility and the business ethics. Requirement of Macro Elements for Morality of the Economy: In order to make a moral and ethical economy there is a need to change and formulate the changes on the macro level factors. The macro elements, which are required for establishing a moral economy, are; Moral Principles: Utilitarianism: One of the most important principal of the moral economy is Utilitarianism, which refers to the most and the entire utility of anything. The authors are of the opinion that ethical practice in this utilitarianism is that one must reduce the costs to minimum and then take the benefit at the maximum. Rights and duties: another important principal of the perfect moral economy is the true distribution of duties and rights among the deserving people. Every person should have the right to work and behave independently; there is no concept of slavery. However, the ethical behavior is required from every single person. Justice: another important requirement of a moral economy is the justice and the equality among people in the country. Justice may be distributive, retributive or compensatory but it should be applicable to the economy. Economic Systems: There are three types of economic systems, which are usually implemented in any country or economy. These are socialism, communism and capitalism. Each of them has its own features and attributes. It is important to note here that socialism is usually considered as the best and the most moral economic system. Capitalism is the most harsh and a little cruel economic system because it promotes the circulation of money in just few powerful hands. There is a strong concept of privatization of the industries and other properties in a capitalistic economy. Socialism refers towards the economic system where maximum of the major resources are in the hands of the people who are working on them. The main concept of socialism is that the wealth and the income should be equally distributed among the deserving people. Communism refers towards the economic system which promote equal distribution of resources among the people so that there can be a positive competition for survival in the economy. It restricts the movement of money in just few hands and thus the circle of money should be a huge one. Challenges of Establishing a Moral Economy: After all the discussion about different perspectives of different economic systems, it is very clear that usually the institutions and the economies have to face many of the challenges for the establishment of a perfect moral economy in their system. Every economic system has some good and bad aspects therefore; we cannot say that any one is the perfect example of a moral economy. If we look comparatively then the socialism or the socialistic economy is more moral and ethical as compare to the rest of the economic systems. The socialist economy also faces certain challenges like the efficient use and the coordination of the production and the distribution just because of the involvement of different parties in it. Works Cited Beloff, M. (2002), ‘The Moral Economy of English Crowd’, Public Order and Popular Disturbances, Special Issue, Number 50, page 77 - 133 Bernstein, H. (2007), ‘Capitalism and The Moral Economy’, Conference on Poverty and Capital, Research papers, Number 14, page 15 - 30 Bohstedt, J. (2002), ‘The Moral Economy and the Historical Context’, Journal of Social History, Volume 26, Number 2, page 32 - 52 Calabrese, A. (2005), ‘Communication, Global Justice and The Moral Economy’, Global Media and Communication, Volume 1, Issue 3, 301 - 315 Sayer, A. (2000), ‘Moral Economy and The Political Economy’, Studies in Political Economy, Number 61, page 79 - 104 Sayer, A. (2004), ‘The Moral Economy’, White Papers, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Read More