Tue, 07 Nov 2006

Why do we stick to our bad habits?

You know what just never seems to occur to social science researchers? The idea of liberty - the thought that human beings are, in fact, free moral agents, able and willing to assume risks, take chances and make stupid choices on a completely autonomous basis.

Maybe people do things because they like to do them! Maybe people assess the risks and decide that the benefits outweigh them. Maybe people make choices independently of "social norms" and "peer pressure".

Why don't the researchers see this? Because they're basically using a Marxist analysis of human behavior: all is determined by poverty and class - humans are not moral free agents but are in fact social automatons, capable of actions only on a social basis.

Maybe I'm just not widely enough read, but I don't recall ever seeing a Marxist analysis of slavery that condemns it for depriving the slave of freedom - the condemnation comes from the use of the slaves economic output for the private gain of the master. In fact, Marx essentially postulates that we are all slaves - to class, to society and to history.

I'd like to suggest a reading list for these folks - they could start with Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe:

Liberty!--Electric word! What is it? Is there anything more in it than a name--a rhetorical flourish? Why, men and women of America, does your hearts blood thrill at that word, for which your fathers bled, and your braver mothers were willing that their noblest and best should die? Is there anything in it glorious and dear for a nation, that is not also glorious and dear for a man?

Why do we ignore public warnings and advertisements about the dangers of smoking, drinking alcohol, overeating, stressing out and otherwise persist in habits and behaviours that we know aren't good for us?

(link) [EurekAlert!]

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