America, the Environment, and the Global Economy
Spring 1997-- Global Human
Ecology:
America, the Environment, and the Global Economy
Question for Discussion: How
will rebuilding communities and local economies improve the lives
of Americans and end the environmental crisis?
Reading: Berry, pp. 117-144
Video: TV Commercials using Sex to Sell
Internet Sites and Documents:
Center for a New American Dream
TOO MANY RICH PEOPLE:Weighing Relative Burdens on the Planet
SIPHONING THE WORLD'S WEALTH TO CENTERS OF CAPITAL
Information and Resources for Sustainable Living
Sustainable Living Program - Miscellaneous Resources
In the first half of his essay, "Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community," Wendell Berry tries to tie together many of the themes he has been developing throughout his book. At first glance his focus on the problem of sexual harassment and the degradation of women in modern American society would appear to have little to do with the global environmental crisis and the growing crisis facing families and communities as a result of the growth of the global industrial economy. But, as Berry soon demonstrates, the Clarence Thomas--Anita Hill controversy and the explosive issue of sexual harassment has a lot to do with the larger causes of the environmental crisis and the breakdown of healthy communities and families. Throughout his book, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community, Berry tries to connect all the disparate threads that tie our lives to our communities, to our societies, and to the Earth. For Berry, the global environmental crisis is a symptom of a much larger crisis facing our modern industrial culture and society. Our obsession with money, individual success and fulfillment, social status and wealth, and controlling the Earth and other people is the larger cause of this environmental crisis, the breakdown of families and communities, and the increasing nihilism and hopelessness we see all around us. But how does Berry demonstrate all this by beginning with a discussion of sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment, for Berry, is a measure of our modern culture and economy's war against community. Sexual harassment becomes an issue when the norms and values created and reinforced by local communities no longer have any force in our lives. Men and women charge each other with sexual harassment, and sue each other for damages, because they no longer have any recourse to community standards and pressure to punish their transgressors. Local communities, supported by strong families, churches, and local traditions, once set and enforced the standards of behavior and decorum that regulated the intimate relationships between men and women. Men, in particular, knew what was appropriate and inappropriate to say and do to women. If men, or women, violated these community codes of conduct, they would then face social sanctions, such as loss of face, respect, dignity, and honor. Berry argues that only strong communities with strong local traditions, customs, and values can protect and control the intimate relationships between men and women. With the breakdown of strong communities, men and women find there are no longer any powerful sanctions regulating their behavior. They can then treat the powerful, sacred, mysterious, and very intimate relationships between men and women as mere "relationships," mere sexual gaming, mere conquests and exploitation.
But why have our communities broken down and left this big gap between our private and public lives? Why does sexual harassment now become a public issue to be settled in the courts and by lawsuits and job dismissals? Berry here raises a central issue in his book: How can human beings become fully mature, responsible, loving, caring adults without the supporting and vital nurturing of a strong community? Our modern industrial society, as Berry argues, has declared war against local communities. Large cities, nations, and even global companies prey on the resources, people, and economies of local communities; they suck out their wealth and people and leave a shell of what these communities once were. Because success in our modern industrial economy depends on individual accumulation of wealth and status, individual movement away from their communities, traditions, and the past, and the domination and control of other people and Earth, families, communities, and marriage become mere tools in our individual and collective struggle for success. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher summed up the modern idea of success when she said: "Society doesn't exist, only individuals exist." Berry now asks an important question: Can we live healthy, human lives in our modern industrial societies, locked in this endless individual competition for wealth and success, bereft of the traditions, values, and decorum that shaped our lives as members of strong communities?
Berry now moves from sexual harassment to marriage and divorce. The problem of sexual harassment is only a symptom of a much larger problem. With the breakdown of strong, stable communities, men and women find that they no longer have the guidance and support to create and nurture good marriages and healthy, loving families. Divorce, the breakdown of families, domestic violence, adultery, sexual harassment, child abuse, and even mental illness and despair are all caused, Berry argues, by the collapse of communities. Without the support, protection, and encouragement of our neighbors, churches, and communities, men and women are often lost and confused; they no longer understand how to create enduring, healthy marriages and families. But, in addition, the individualism and materialism of our modern industrial economy leads both men and women to see marriages and families as mere vehicles for their own happiness and fulfillment. As soon as their "relationships" and "children" don't meet their needs, increasingly both men and women are abandoning their marriages and families. For Berry, this is a real tragedy that can only cause personal, cultural, and social dysfunction to grow and spread. Given this individual selfishness and lack of responsibility for anything outside of personal fulfillment, it is no wonder that we have a drug problem, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, and family breakdown.
The larger argument Berry must now address is this: Can we solve these problems without re-creating strong, stable, supportive communities? Many supporters of our modern industrial culture would argue that these are only temporary problems, with enough laws, economic and personal incentives, and enough public education, our society can solve these problems. But Berry would reject this argument. Government bureaucrats, mental health experts, and so-called "professionals" will never be able to solve these social problems. Only strong communities that locate individual lives in the larger reality of community and local places can begin to solve these problems. It is the very success of our modern industrial society and economy in destroying local communities and economies, in drawing individuals away from their communities, traditions, and their past, and in promising individual fulfillment and success without dependence on others that has caused these growing, festering social problems.
Berry is arguing that the choices we make as individuals in our modern industrial culture are responsible for these social problems. We cannot continue to believe that our lives can be measured simply in terms of individual happiness and success, free from responsibility to our wives, families, and communities, and ever hope to end these problems. Thus sexual harassment, divorce, family breakdown, and individual selfishness and nihilism are the products of our modern industrial culture. If we don't recognize the vast destruction and social disorder created by our modern industrial culture, then we will continue to be trapped in this widening maelstrom of increasing social, family, community, and individual breakdown. And, of course, we can't begin to solve the global environmental crisis if we don't address the larger cultural and social problems that are causing it. So sexual harassment, in the end, can help us understand the environmental crisis and the growing crisis faced by our modern industrial culture.