At the Intersection: Curbside Capacities

Every individual stands on the curbside of the intersection of culture and economics. That is where global transformation, as well as any other change, takes place. Culture will influence, and indeed has the power within it, to change economic philosophy and economic systems at that intersection. Conversely, economic systems and ideas have the power to change a given culture. 

Just think of the potential capacity for change that is wrapped up in the individuals with their personal market baskets, gathered on the curbside of that intersection. Quite frankly, I find that potential dynamism quite fascinating. There is potential capacity to perform, to yield, or to withstand any and all components of culture or any and all components of economics as they try to intersect, collide, and pass through that intersection. The components that make it through to the other side of the intersection will determine history as it is recorded. 

I am additionally intrigued by the variety of emotional, moral, and behavioral capacities that influence the components of economics and culture as they pass through the intersection. The traffic flowing through the intersection of culture and economics seems to become super charged by the high octane fuel propelling the varied components as they pass through the traffic. 

As I have traveled to nearly every nook and cranny of this globe, and observed hundreds of people groups and the diverse examples of civilizations, I have been amazed at the human capacity to harbor and display the phenomenon of evil. I traveled throughout Rwanda on the heels of the terrible Hutu- Tutsi genocide. I was in Congo and Angola at the time of the mass murders. I personally viewed Pol Pot’s torture chambers located at the old high school in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and witnessed where hundreds of thousands of Cambodia’s best citizens were intentionally slaughtered by their own government.

I was in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Belgrade, Serbia and witnessed the atrocities taking place. In the little country of Nagorno Karabakh I watched the genocide by the Russian Fourth Army, the Azerbaijanis, and the Turks wipe out eighty percent of that small country’s male population, and it seemed that hardly anyone even noticed. I’ve spent time at the Holocaust memorials in Jerusalem, Israel, and Washington D.C. and asked the question, “Just how can this be?”

That same capacity for evil can likewise be observed in the law-ignoring greed of local governments, corporate heads, and homegrown community thugs, as well as even fraudulent social services recipients. 

But, history has also shown that the folks gathered at the intersection can receive and contain a remarkable capacity for virtue. It is possible for them to attain through invitation and development, excellence of character. And based on that excellence of character, they can choose to become agents and dispensers of kindness, generosity, fairness, sympathy, mercy, personal responsibility, justice, charity, gentleness, forbearance, righteousness, and benevolence. 

The individuals standing on the curbside of the intersection have the power and opportunity to ultimately determine history. But who will actually step forward and begin the process by taking the precious items from their market basket and injecting them into the flow of traffic? 

As I visualize this epic scene of the making of history at the intersection of transformation, my mind recalls an intriguing episode shared with me by a new friend as I traveled through Asia: 

        Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten.

        And seeing them, the holy one went down into deep prayer and cried,

        “Great God, how is it that a loving Creator can see such things and yet do   

        nothing about them?”

       And out of the long silence, God said, “I did do something . . . 

        I made you.”

We who are standing on the curbside of the intersection of transformation have the power to influence the direction, timing, and outcome. How will we handle the opportunity? 

Next Week: Vice vs. Virtue

© Dr. James W. Jackson  

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

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At the Intersection: Our Market Basket

Let’s pursue this concept of the intersection a bit more:

We are an integral part of this world of transformation and change. We have inherited this culture and economic system in which we exist and operate. We own our future and have been endowed with the power to personally choose between and amongst the myriads of alternatives that have been and will be presented to us on a daily basis. The choices that we select will, of necessity, set into motion consequences that will affect our lives, the lives of others around us, and even the future options that will be made available to us.

All of those transformational happenings will take place at the intersection of culture and economics. Whether we like it or not, each of us presently stands on the curbside of that intersection. From that position we are able to observe the intriguing and constant flow of traffic moving in front of us through that intersection. We are not, however, just standing on the curbside as disengaged and disinterested observers. We, along with all the others gathered, are highly involved in what passes through that intersection and the results of the continual flow of traffic. Transformation continually takes place and we are a part of it.

If we will observe carefully, we will see that every person standing on the curbside, including ourselves, is carrying a lovely market basket on his or her arm. Everyone has been shopping on the way to the curbside.

Placed inside those baskets are the most important and valuable items in the world. At the marketplace, on the way to the intersection, every person has been hunting, inspecting, and accumulating. The items are so very precious because each person has been actually exchanging a part of himself or herself for the contents collected and placed so very carefully into the lovely market baskets. So, everything collected has either been placed into those personal market baskets as a direct result of a purchase or of a gift exchange.

Since the cultural and economic systems belong to us, ultimately, we are the ones who determine what components pass through the intersection and what is declared as history on the other side. If the contents of those market baskets are powerful enough to alter and direct the flow of history, perhaps it would be important for us to examine just what makes up the contents of those personal and distinct market baskets. Just for fun, let’s see if we can figure out the contents and value of our own personal market basket:

· FINANCIAL POSSESSIONS:

Let’s do this through the equity approach: Take the replacement value of your market basket contents and then subtract any indebtedness: Savings accounts, cash, loans and accounts due you, stocks, bonds, pension plans, equities in businesses, partnerships, home, additional properties, autos, household goods, and other personal properties.

· PERSONAL POSSESSIONS:

Physical possessions of good health, good DNA, attractive characteristics, wholesome attitudes, intellectual possessions, past experiences, education, healthy emotional possessions, good decision making capabilities, temporal, or possessions of time (number of days you have left).

· RELATIONAL POSSESSIONS:

Your family, friends, and your influence on other people and situations.

· SPIRITUAL POSSESSIONS:

You are at peace with yourself, others, and God, kind, self controlled, generous, patient, and forgiving to your family and others, a life characterized by a deep sense of joy, consistency, gratefulness, a non-complaining attitude, and dependable.

· SPECIAL POSSESSIONS:

In addition to the other possessions in your market basket, God has given to you some special abilities. It is true, you may have refined them and put a lot of work and discipline into developing them, but you realize that they are special possessions given to you by a discerning God. List those special abilities that you feel are your strongest talents.

All individuals are standing on the curbside of the intersection of culture and economics. It is almost unfathomable when trying to comprehend the variety and value of the possessions that are held in the market baskets of those individuals. With those possessions, the individuals standing there have the power and opportunity to ultimately determine what happens at that intersection.

History will be determined by what those individuals will collectively decide to inject into that flow of traffic passing through the intersection. What will they be willing to take out of their market baskets and invest into the process of making history? What will they do to advance the procedure of resolution? What will they be willing to do to unsnarl the traffic and advance the proceeding of history?

All persons on the curbside face the same leveling question concerning the use of the possessions within their individual market baskets . . . What’cha Gonna Do With What’cha Got?

By injecting the possessions from their market baskets into the traffic flow of the intersection, they influence the direction, timing, and outcome of the flow of traffic and thereby determine history. The comprehensive and penetrating question becomes very personal . . . What’cha Gonna Do With What’cha Got?

Next Week: Curbside Capacities

(Research ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics)

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At the Intersection: Examples for the Matrix

We have now discussed the components of economic production: Land, Labor, Capital, and the Entrepreneur, and also the components of our cultural structure: Traditions, Institutions, Family, and the Individual. Our premise is that Transformation takes place at the intersection of Culture and Economics. Wherever the components of Culture and the components of Economics cross in the intersection of real life, you can expect change.

I’m going to resort to the chalk board and see if we can walk through some common examples in order to see just how such a thing works. The components of Economics will be positioned along the left side of our matrix and the components of Culture will follow the bottom line. The dynamics of the situational example will determine the point of intersection and which of the components will be involved in the confrontation that sets up the incidence of transformation:

• We talked earlier about the incredible global transformation that took place based on the intuition and action of Alexander the Great after being influenced by the cultural and economic insights of his personal teacher, Aristotle. He conquered the known world.
• Two hundred seventy- one years later, Julius Caesar laid claim to Alexander’s dream and once again, transformed the global system at the intersection of culture and economics.
• King James of England, in 1606, granted rights to a business investment company to establish the first American colony in an area designated as Virginia. But the second contract was made with another organization to establish a colony in America. That contract was born out of conflict and the desire for change and freedom. The Pilgrims were a group of settlers who had previously left England to seek relief and freedom in Holland. Disappointed there, they found investors willing to underwrite the expenses of a contract to colonize in America. On September 16, 1620, the Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower and landed sixty-five days later. At the intersection of culture and economics, the Pilgrims employed their powerful traditions and even religious institutions and families. They set into motion transformation in areas of land use, labor, and capital and the individuals eventually realized the fruits of a new world

• Eventually the American Revolutionary War between young America and England would be fought at the intersection of culture and economics. Institutions, traditions, families and individuals were pitted against each other on matters of land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurial enterprises.

• Within recent years, China’s citizens have experienced immeasurable transformation due to national laws implemented in 1979 limiting the family’s size to one child per couple. I personally visited many orphanages throughout China and have been acquainted with the affects of the policy that was fully centered at the intersection of culture and economics. The policies were initiated to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China, but have set into motion firestorms of consequences.

• A bit closer to home . . . we commonly experience the intersection phenomenon in controversial land use situations. Traditions endeavor to dictate how a certain piece of property will be used regardless of personal or institutional ownership rights. Or, a municipality may want to appropriate or condemn a property and build a big box store or commercial strip in order to generate higher tax revenues. The battle is waged at the intersection of culture and economics.

• Divorce settlements, civil suits, and estate squabbles so very frequently find the principles yelling at each other in the middle of the intersection of culture and economics.

• Individual families, also, find themselves hammering out philosophical differences at the intersection when it comes to making decisions regarding how they will earn and spend their resources.

• Don’t be surprised when it dawns on you that this same matrix works even for such issues as dealing with the disciplining of the children, (Land = Resources, Labor = Activities, Capital = Rights and Rewards, Entrepreneur = Creativity and Independence). We can count on major transformation taking place at the intersection of culture and economics even when applied to the components involved in domestic situations.

We live in a world of transformation. It is good for us to concern ourselves with how we can more efficiently allocate and manage our resources and abilities. It is also to our benefit to discover and understand how various aspects of human cultures interact with economic events, behaviors, and conditions. Economic philosophies and systems have the power to affect and shape our culture, as well as our culture having influence on our political systems, inherited traditions, religious beliefs and the formation of our institutions. It is imperative to lay aside the notion that economic has only to do with money. It is also imperative to more fully comprehend the scope and sequence of culture.

As we move into a more complete understanding of the eight components listed herein, and see how they work together under a larger umbrella of cultural economics, our identification of problems and even our tasks of conflict resolution will be more easily accomplished.

Next Week: Our Market Basket

(Research Ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics) 

© Dr. James W. Jackson  

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

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At the Intersection: Cultural Components

Our stated premise is that transformation (global, national, corporate, domestic, personal) takes place at the intersection of culture and economics. We just finished discussing the four basic production components of economics: Land, Labor, Capital, and the Entrepreneur. Now it’s time to examine the cultural components.

It is necessary to have an agreed upon definition when discussing the concept ofculture. No, we are neither talking about growing a microorganism in a laboratory Petri dish, nor are we describing an artsy enlightenment trip to Carnegie Hall in New York City or an art museum in London. Culture, as we will be discussing, can be described as the inherited and shared beliefs, attitudes, feelings, values, ideas, customs, and social behaviors of a particular people.

There are at least four strategic components that are utilized in order to perpetuate a culture: Traditions, Institutions, Families, and Individuals. It is not my intention at this point to get involved in a thorough investigation or discussion of these four components. I must admit, however, that it is a temptation to get off track and share with you some of the incredible customs, traditions, and institutions I have witnessed in my world travels over the past nearly thirty-five years (everything from simple birthday celebrations to male and female rites-of-passage circumcision rituals of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania). We will stay on point.

TRADITIONS

The term tradition comes from the Latin tradere that literally means to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. It is a belief or pattern of behavior in a community with special or symbolic meaning that has been handed down from generation to generation and might persist and evolve for thousands of years. The concept of tradition is viewed as a set of precedents valued by a culture and carries with it the notion of holding on to a previous time. Traditions are extremely important to a given group. History bears out those traditions are many times considered worth dying for. Wars have been fought and civilizations eradicated because of traditions.

INSTITUTIONS

Institutions are designed to formalize and perpetuate agreed upon traditions. They work to give structure, influence and even power to the sustainability of those social orders deemed most important to a people group.

On the surface, institutions look a lot like churches, hospitals, jails, banks, and schools. But, more formally, they describe normative systems that take care of regulating the distribution of goods and services, the providing for the legitimate use of power, the transmitting of knowledge from the present generation to the next generation, and the lending of structure to moral and religious matters. Institutions end up mediating the agreed upon rules that govern social behavior of a group.

FAMILY

As a component of culture, family has to do with kinship. Here again, this is not an involved dissertation on the current interpretation and aspects of the modern family.When dealing, however, with the premise that all transformation takes place at the intersection of culture and economics, the cultural component of family is paramount.

Family is considered more than just a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, whether dwelling together or not. It extends to any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins, etc.

Historically, kinship has played a huge role in developing, establishing, and perpetuating traditions. Likewise, the family units of a people group are the most powerful influence and factor of sustainability when it comes to the success of institutions.

INDIVIDUAL

Recall for a moment the list of production components of economics that we discussed last session: Land, Labor, Capital, and the Entrepreneur. We learned that nothing happens without the Entrepreneur. So it is with the components of culture . . . nothing happens without the Individual.

From the traditions, from the institutions, and from the family, the individual emerges as the ultimate building block of transformation and change.

Now we are ready to plug these eight components into our social economics matrix and apply them to the phenomenon of transformation.

Next Week: Examples for the Matrix

(Research Ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics) 

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