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Capitalism makes us psychopaths: a thread.
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I’ve said some variation of this a number of times, so I wanted to elaborate. In my last thread, I talked about how capitalism incentivizes cronyism. Here, I’d like to talk about how capitalism incentivizes psychopathy.
2/ https://twitter.com/andyindc1/status/1328833757110001671
2/ https://twitter.com/andyindc1/status/1328833757110001671
I’m using the term “psychopathy” as a stand-in for the package of unethical traits capitalism encourages: narcissism, lack of empathy, lack of shame or guilt, etc.
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What I’m NOT trying to argue is that capitalism literally turns ordinary people into psychopaths. And this isn’t about how capitalism rewards actual psychopaths, who are over-represented among leaders of private firms:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/04/25/the-disturbing-link-between-psychopathy-and-leadership/
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/04/25/the-disturbing-link-between-psychopathy-and-leadership/
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What I am trying to argue is that the structure of capitalism ensures that private firms will behave psychopathically, exploiting and hurting people for profit with little semblance of shame.
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This is not a prediction about any given firm, but rather a systemic prediction: over time, the likelihood that a firm will behave unethically, or be replaced by a competitor that does, approaches one.
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Likewise, the odds that any given business leader will behave unethically, or be replaced by someone who does, approaches one. Under capitalism, you can either choose to do wrong or let someone else do wrong in your place.
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The logic is the same for cronyism: under capitalism, we construct private firms to seek to maximize shareholder value. That’s it. They try to maximize revenue and minimize costs by whatever means they can.
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If they don’t, they risk being out-competed—and replaced—by a competitor firm that does. This is how you end up with cronyism, private firms that seek anti-competitive protection by bribing the state.
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And this is also how you end up with private firms behaving psychopathically, pursuing revenue and cutting costs without reference to the well-being of their customers or employees.
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This is how you end up with situations like Ford execs deciding it’s cheaper to let people burn to death in their Pintos rather than pay to recall them.
11/ https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/autos/2008/oct/17/pinto-memo-its-cheaper-let-them-burn/
11/ https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/autos/2008/oct/17/pinto-memo-its-cheaper-let-them-burn/
I don’t know if those specific execs were psychopaths, but it doesn’t really matter. They behaved like psychopaths because if they didn’t, they’d be replaced by someone who would—someone who would maximize revenue and minimize costs.
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That’s how we end up with @Toyota execs hiding safety defects that killed people, that’s how we end up with @Boeing execs hiding computer defects that brought down two loaded 737s.
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That’s how we end up with @Nike and @CocaCola lobbying in favor of “forced labor,” a euphemism for slavery.
14/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html
14/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html
That’s how we end up with @McKinsey advising Purdue (a twofer!) to offer rebates to retailers for every overdose attributable to OxyContin sold by them.
15/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/mckinsey-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html
15/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/mckinsey-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html
I don’t know if these people are actual psychopaths, and it doesn’t matter. They behave like psychopaths because that is how capitalism incentivizes them to behave. If they don’t, they’ll eventually be replaced through competition by someone who will.
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Unethical behavior like this is baked into the DNA of capitalism. Children burned to death in exploding cars. Families torn apart by opioid overdoses. Actual slavery. These are the wages of capitalism. This is capitalism working exactly the way it’s supposed to.
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Oh hey look at that @Nestle and @Cargill think they should be allowed to profit off the torture of child slaves
18/ https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/nestle-cargill-high-court-child-labor-case-74487557
18/ https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/nestle-cargill-high-court-child-labor-case-74487557
What’s your favorite example of corporate immorality? Mine is how @McDonalds decided it was cheaper to pay for skin grafts for burn victims than to serve its coffee at a cooler temperature and have to change it out more frequently.
19/ https://twitter.com/kokoinkorea/status/1277901582802096129
19/ https://twitter.com/kokoinkorea/status/1277901582802096129
Don’t forget to tag your favorite corporate psychopaths!
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