 |
| Image Source: Wikipedia |
About the Author
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher
was a German-British statistician and a renowned economist. His work includes
various proposals for decentralized human scale and appropriate techniques. At
British National Coal Board, he was appointed as the chief economic officer and
was the founder of Practical Action, formerly known as Intermediate Technology
Development Group.
Summary
A study
of economics as if people mattered is focused on the premise that economics
should serve us the people, not vice-versa. This book is widely acclaimed for
its unique insights into the depths of politics and environmental protection.
Small is beautiful comprises
of four main parts: "Modern World", "Resources",
"Third World" and "Organization and Ownership". These
sections should be read in chronological order to get a better
understanding. Schumacher took us from the discussion of our unsustainable
economy to the alternative to capitalism. In his view, we are actually
destroying our very own foundation.
First of all, in "Modern World", Schumacher
questions our understanding of nature and its position in the natural world. We
believe that we seem to transcend nature and our goal is to conquer and control
nature. The irony is that if we defeat nature, our end will be inevitable.
Schumacher did not mention why we think this way but asked us to consider why
we are moving in this direction. Otherwise, we will continue to exploit nature’s
resources until there is nothing left for us.
For Schumacher, we currently have the main
belief that universal prosperity is a far-fetched idea, but also the only way
to guarantee peace. This is a contradiction because we can only achieve
prosperity in the modern sense through greed and immoral behavior. We base the
entire economic theory on this contradiction. Instead, what we need are short
methods that everyone can use and gives us the liberty to be ourselves and work
alongside nature.
In "Resources", Schumacher studies
an important resource that has a different meaning for all of us: Education. Our
social class determines our value of education. For example, the poor have
little value for this, while the rich see it as an opportunity to establish
connections. Education is limited, based on problem-solving, rather than
teaching us wisdom and the ability to think deeply. All we do is apply existing
ideas, prejudices, and background theories to a situation, rather than actually
thinking of creating for ourselves.
The "Third World" believes that
developing countries have found the solution to the fatal flaw in this problem.
Our philanthropy stems from a serious assumption that our path is the only way
to build an economy. The massive distribution of aid to needy countries
prevented them from establishing adequate structures for them, it simply
ignored the real problems, made no effort to support the growing majority of
the population in rural communities. On the other hand, people hope that the
industrialization of their country will be the effective absorption of everyone
in the city.
In "Organization and
Ownership", Schumacher led us to slowly resolve this argument. If rural
workers have few or no jobs, they will flock to urban areas. This has led to the large-scale migration of people to areas where they cannot support themselves
adequately. Try to "urbanize" a country even in the richest country,
because there simply are not enough job opportunities for everyone. Our whole
philosophy makes the problem worse.
The last part of “Organization
and Ownership" looks at why the theory of socialism lacks depth and how we
must urgently find an alternative to capitalism. The problem comes down to our
nature: we are greedy, jealous, and ensure our material development at all
costs. Our wishes are not in line with our limited natural environment. Then,
before destroying the environment, we must first find a new system compatible
with our environment. Capitalism will eventually destroy us.
According to Schumacher, we should focus on
small private enterprises and local self-sufficiency. If the size of the
company is easier to manage, then we can improve employment, maintain the
economy and reduce the need for the environment. This structure doesn't
generate much wealth, but that's the point.
Our current economy is thriving on big
business, through which anonymous owners and leaders have accumulated great
wealth through the useless labor of their "employees." Schumacher
called this a "parasitic" relationship, and this relationship will only
deteriorate. However, socialism itself is not the answer. Instead, we must
reinvent our entire relationship with nature and build a global economy that can
save us rather than destroy us.
You can buy this week easily from Amazon: Small is Beautiful
Written By - Nachiket Kekre
Edited By - Anamika Malik
0 Comments