> Social capital is a form of economic and cultural capital in which social > networks are central, transactions are marked by reciprocity, trust, and > cooperation, and market agents produce goods and services not mainly for > themselves, but for a common good. – > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital
Since the dawn of modernity, economic debate has centered on who owns the means of production. Capitalists argued private greed led to greater innovation and efficiency, while Socialists claimed state ownership was necessary to ensure the resulting gains were distributed equitably. We believe in both ends, but disagree with both means. We propose reviving the term "Social Capitalism" to describe a system where private capital is voluntarily employed to benefit society, for which producers are entitled to receive a market-determined profit.The role of government is then primarily to ensure a level playing field, and hold actors accountable for their promises. In a sense, Social Capitalism is a return to the moral philosophy of Adam Smith, Saint Simeon, and others who helped give birth to capitalism. It recognizes that human beings are both self-interested AND interested in the welfare of their fellow human beings. And that it requires careful systems design – not merely an invisible hand – to keep the two in a healthy balance. The term social capitalism also alludes to the fact that we are entering an era where social capital is becoming the most important resource. It can be thought of as a third wave, succeeding financial capitalism, which in turn succeeded what we could call "physical capitalism." In pre-modernity, wealth was measured in physical terms: e.g., land and gold. Under financial capitalism, those still have enormous value, but are denominated in financial terms. Similarly, we argue that we are already in a world where money is primarily valued for the social status, self-esteem, and institutional access it enables. Finally, we also believe that social capital is the best lens for analyzing the challenges of race, income inequality, and societal dysfunction. Communities with high social capital dramatically outperform those with less, even if they have similar financial circumstances. Social capital is thus both a leading indicator as well as the ultimate measure of the health of a community. Which implies we should shift our policies to create rather than supplant social capital, starting with prioritizing productive households. In the most polarizing election since the civil war, there is a surprising consensus on the far Right and Left that our existing social contract is falling apart. We believe Social Capitalism may be exactly the medicine our body politic needs. If you are intrigued enough to learn more, we invite you to join us for a conference call on Tuesday, November 15th at 9am PST. We are inviting thinkers and writers from across the political spectrum to see if we can forge a consensus around a new framing of societal and economic issues. We hope you can join us! Sincerely, RadicalCentrism.org Centrist Forum -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
