The de-humanising effects of liberalism – by Jenny Sinclair

---

Every era is characterised by an animating idea – and in our era it is liberalism. This is the sea we swim in. We don’t really see it because it’s all around us. Much of its influence has been positive, but it becomes a problem when it goes too far.

Fundamental to this story is the idea of the “unencumbered self”, in which freedom is understood as freedom from constraint. Freedom from God, from family, from place, from tradition.

We’ve ended up with this paradigm of freedom of choice, with its greater emphasis on rights than responsibilities. And this liberalism shows up in both economic and social forms – we’ve got the neoliberal economic model on the right, and the hyper-liberal social norms on the left.

Limits are “regressive”

Both are driven by the same logic: limits are framed as regressive. There’s a kind of blind spot going on on each side. The right attribute moral unravelling to excessive liberalism, but somehow the neoliberal economic system gets a free pass; the left attribute poverty to the neoliberal economic system, but they celebrate unlimited self-actualisation. To ‘be who you want to be’ is seen as progressive.

The key point is that liberalism has a fundamentally different anthropology to Christianity. Rather than as individuals unencumbered to do what we want, Christianity sees us as relational beings made in the image of God.

Human distress

When we look at what’s happening in the world we see the symptoms of liberalism’s dominance. We see exploitation, inequality, fragmentation, the commodification of creation, and so many signs of human distress – an explosion of loneliness, mental health crises and the breakdown of trust.

This animating idea has also led to globalisation, deindustrialisation, the off-shoring of skilled work and the discarding of places and whole communities, especially in the so-called post-industrial working class communities. It’s also led to the imposition of the knowledge economy and the service economies.

Power grab

Effectively, it’s been a power grab from the poor to the middle class and to the rich. The consequences, not only economic, but social, have been devastating. The point to draw from this is that this type of neoliberal system has an effect on human beings. It has an effect not only on our livelihoods, but also on our behaviours, on our relationships.

In The Genesis and Ethos of the Market, theologian Luigino Bruni writes:

“the market gives birth to and fosters its own sense of being human…it engenders the promise of interpersonal relationships without the wound of the other.”

Anti-human

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this philosophy generates an anti-human system. It makes us into the ideal consumer sitting at home ordering from Amazon, separated from each other. It’s an assault on relationship.

This is the same system that’s reshaped our conception of work. From vocation, to low skill, low security jobs which weaken the confidence of the young in adulthood and undermine family formation. It’s also reshaped our conception of welfare, from community interdependence to the transfer of funds where you’re left on your own in your flat, surrounded by unpaid bills.

This makes people unhappy and lonely, especially the young. It weakens social bonds. It undermines local democracy. It promotes a false freedom of “choice”.

It leads to a loss of the human space where we can be together and makes us vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation. There is a sense of dislocation. Our primary relationships ought to be with each other, not with the likes of Amazon, nor with the state.

The Common Good

I look through the frame of Catholic social thought, which began as a response of the Church to the impact of the Industrial Revolution on human beings.  It provides a theological framework to critique any system that dehumanises, whether it’s the unfettered market or the over-centralised, collectivist state. It looks for ways of constraining those powers and working for the common good.

The common good is the antidote to individualism and collectivism because it involves building relationship across differences at all levels. It’s a better story, but it’s also very practical.

Building relationships

In political terms, it’s about building relationship between labour and capital, between employer and employee, between business and unions. It involves local banking, and energy providers that are closer to people and more accountable. It involves a distribution of power and resistance against global governance.

It also means building back relationship where it’s been stripped out. Less of the auto checkout and more human contact. And in local terms, it means building intergenerational relationships between the old and the young, strengthening families, local businesses and local associations, and the links between neighbourhood institutions.

The church

The church is well placed to enable different groups to act together, to generate a local moral economy – a counterweight to the big corporates. To challenge structures of sin and to build structures of grace. To defend the interests of local people.

In particular, this is about solidarity with poor communities – the church is called to be incarnational. Much more than being ‘a service provider’, it’s more about building reciprocity and supporting the leadership of people in those abandoned places.

Counter-cultural

Church-based charity should not become a handmaid of the state. We’re not called to be useful, we’re called to be prophetic. This may well require a countercultural challenge to the liberal narratives of both the left and the right.

As Christians our conception of the human person is not individualistic – it is relational. Our vocation is to uphold and defend the human space where we can build the common good for our mutual flourishing. Like the concept of Ubuntu – “I am because we are”. We are not complete without each other.

---

Jenny Sinclair is Founder & Director of Together for the Common Good and co-host of the Leaving Egypt podcast. This is an edited version of a talk Jenny gave at the House of Commons: listen to the audio.