art-e-conomy _ reader - marko stamenkovic

Under the commercialized and marketized existence of society, Man is treated as
merely a “sophisticated“ machine, capable of multi-tasking. An unemployed person
is no more than a switched off machine. What happens to the family - the child who
now has to work and quit her education or the mother who has to carry the double
burden of inside and outside work is immaterial for the system. Society is nothing
more than a collection of these sophisticated machines and there are no social
costs to be taken into account. Industry becomes low cost since the reserve army
of labor cheapens labor and social costs need not be borne by industry, so, profits
soar. Profit at any cost is more important than social well being.
Yet, despite of these obvious limitations the economic sphere is gaining more and
more influence on different social sectors?
This is due to the policy orientation of economics and the short time horizon
which policy makers adopt. The world is increasingly driven by mechanical policy
considerations based on marketization and that too in the short run. Economics is
attuned to both these. Thus, it is seen as practical which is not the case with other
subjects in social science. If by cultural turn we understand that it is a matter of
being in tune with the current cultural trend, then economics is the one which is
most attuned to the `instant’ and short run culture. As suggested above, economics
treats individuals as `homo-economicus’. Emotions, feelings and ethics do not
matter. Increasingly alienated and atomized individuals produced by the system are
also acting like that (mechanically, like, machines) and economics describes that
the best, hence the influence.
This text is the modified version of a conversation in 2000, originally published as ”Globalizing
Elites”, in Kapital and Karma. Recent Positions in Indian Art, edited by Angelika Fitz, Michael Wörgötter;
Kunsthalle Wien, Hatje Cantz, 2002, pp. 83-93.
Kumar, A. 1999. The Black Economy in India. N Delhi: Penguin, India.
Kumar, A. 2005. ”Growth Scenario: Is the Common Man in the Picture?”, in The Alternative Survey
Group (Ed.) Alternative Economic Survey, India 2004-05: Disequalizing Growth. New Delhi: Danish
Books.
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