Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the
powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and
mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain
the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time,
the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral
sentiments
. (Adam Smith,
Theory of Moral Sentiments
, 1759)
Already in society today there are large numbers of people who have
decided to devote themselves to activities other than the pursuit of higher
and higher levels of income and consumption. In fact, 23 per cent of Austral-
ians aged 30-59 have voluntarily made a decision such as taking a lower paid
job or working part-time which reduced their incomes but improved their
quality of life, according to recent surveys (Hamilton & Mail 2003).
With time, a post-economic growth society might witness far-reaching
changes in the structure of the market economy. For instance, restrictions on
manipulative marketing could see the vast resources of the advertising indus-
try redirected to more worthwhile and creative pursuits than convincing
people that two brands of cola are significantly different substances. Many eco-
nomic activities that are essentially parasitic and make no contribution to
social welfare, other than the incomes they provide to the corporations in
question, could slowly wither away. Large segments of the financial services
industry, especially those involved in speculation and tax avoidance, would no
longer be supported. And, as people increasingly rejected the false promise
that increased incomes and increased consumption result in increased happi-
ness, industries devoted to producing luxury goods would decline.
Where to from here?
In order to shift away from the pursuit of economic growth as an end in itself,
significant changes need to occur at both government and individual levels. If
in a well-functioning democracy the majority of the adult population desires
such a shift, then significant change should not be too difficult to achieve. A
range of actions is, however, required. We focus here on the imminent actions
governments could take while recognising that achieving a post-economic
growth society would represent a far-reaching social transformation.
1 Increased accountability
At the government level there is a need for much greater openness and trans-
parency in the decision-making process. If the current Howard Government
