Self-Actualization under Capitalism LO13988

James Needham (jamesn@azstarnet.com)
Tue, 17 Jun 1997 21:00:01 -0700

I have often wondered why Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs doesn't seem
to apply in contemporary USA. Maslow believed that when a human satisfies
his physical needs of air, water, food, clothing, shelter, sleep, sex, and
security; he would then fill his metaphysical needs of belonging, esteem,
and self-actualization. To reach this pinnacle of metaphysical development
means human development within a family, community, industry,
organization, profession, or calling to such a high level that the
person's name becomes a pseudonym for excellence. But America doesn't
measure success in terms of self-actualization. The measuring stick is
graduated in terms of power, money and material possessions. This is
probably why the typical American gets stuck in a loop of amassing food,
clothing, shelter and material possessions instead of evolving upward.

William Bennett, former drug czar, articulated it succinctly when he
recently said "unbridled capitalism is a problem to human beings. We are
constantly pushing our children and adults to buy things that they do not
need. We are making desires into needs and we are, as a result, not living
at the center. We are misreading the essential human condition".

Others are joining Bennett and Sam Nunn in their "The National Commission
on Civic Renewal". A sister organization, "Civil Society Movement",
promotes the message that "The amoral, profit-at-any-cost, brand of
capitalism, has an effect on American culture that can be described as
corrupting and corrosive . . . Hollywood, Madison Avenue and Wall Street
too often put money before morality. We are the most prosperous society in
history. We also lead the world in murder, violent crime, imprisonment,
children having children, divorce, abortion, single-parenting, teen
suicide, drug-consumption and pornography."

Humans are neither purely economic animals nor purely social animals but
have strong needs in both realms. A society that recognizes these needs
attempts to strike a balance instead of going overboard on the one thing
that it happens to do well. The results of our imbalance are wretched
dynamics which seductively enriches our standard of living while deeply
impoverishing our quality of life. The solution to this dilemma lies in
our commitment to put a human face back on capitalism by tethering
competition with ethics. We must keep in focus the fact that capitalism is
our economic system not our value system. We must start making decisions
which reflect values more lofty than the "bottom line", like Compassion,
Cooperation, Decency, Fairness, Generosity, Honesty, Honor, Integrity,
Justice, Loyalty, Professionalism, Respect, Responsibility, Self-
Discipline, Selflessness, Tolerance, and Wisdom. This is only a partial
list of the qualities that we have historically taken credit for! Now it
is time for us to walk the talk!

James P. Needham

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James Needham <jamesn@azstarnet.com>


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