Piet Naudé | Michael Welker | John Witte, Jr. (Eds.): The Impact of Political Economy (Leseprobe)

46 Andreas Glaeser
it there takes anywhere from two to four weeks. Amazon, however, can get her a
paper copy tomorrow and an e-book version right away.
This leaves her with two options. First, she can order the book from Amazon.
Yet doing so would produce aplethora ofethically questionable effects. She
would make Jeff Bezos richer than he already is, thus contributing to the unabatedly
increasing inequality in the United States, which in turn undermines
U.S. democracy. She would also deprive her local bookstore of its sustenance,
while contributing to the exploitational, union-busting practices at Amazon
warehouses and the like.
Second, she can order the book from the local store, thus making acontribution
to its survival, while at the same time downloading apirated digital copy.
Here, too, she would produce ethically questionable effects. She would deprive
the publisher, auniversity press, of additional, equally needed income. Plus, she
would willingly commit acopyright infringement and thereby contribute to a
culture that makes it more difficult for people tolive off their writing.
In an instant, this example highlightshow the protagonist’sability to be ethical
or act ethically is contingent on acomplex assemblage of institutions. The
attitudes, values, feelings, and knowledge she brings to bear on the situation
are not just hers, but to have them, she has to partake in structured communities
of discourse. That is to say, these values are institutionalized—and that on several
levels. Her norms and values, feelings and knowledge draw on aparticular
language and the ways of talking ethics that it provides; they are formed and
anchored in an organized public sphere, with particular media of mass communication
at her disposal; and they dwell in family and friendship networks, etc.
Moreover, the protagonist’s knowledge about the consequences of her behavior
is contingent on the work of journalists employed by various kinds ofnews organizations
investigating the practices of large organizations like Amazon, as
well as on that of social scientists researching the extent, causes, and consequences
ofincome and wealth inequality in the United States. Her knowledge
about independent bookstores’ precarious situation is likewise mediated
through discursive practices.
Of particular ethical concern about situations like the book buyer’s isthat
whichever way she turns (given her preferences for the immediate availability
of texts), she produces consequences that she experiences as ethically problematic.
Life in complex institutional settings may quickly appear as if it condemns
people to choiceless immoral behavior that ultimately draws morality itself into
doubt. While the above situation still contains some wiggle room for choices
(more on this below), many others do not. 2
2
Take the use of modern electronic equipment, which is adefacto necessity for participating
in normal life in somewhat richer countries. All of it relies on components pro-