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PARTISAN REVIEW
"production for use," but that is not part of a definition, it is an argu–
ment to be tested . Similarly with equality and freedom. Nor can we
make the error of confusing what results from or is connected with
capitalism with what results from or is connected with modern
industrial technology. All societies make use of
that ,
and that im–
poses its own imperatives. But if we compare current capitalist and
socialist societies, we do in fact contrast societies of not very different
levels of industrial development and capacity.
And how does the analysis come out?
It
will not be surprising
to find put as almost the first proposition that industrial capitalism
\
"has generated, and continues to generate the highest material stan-
dard of living for large masses of people in human history ." A fierce
argument has been waged over the human costs imposed by early
industrial capitalism, and Berger, reviewing this debate, does not
reject the possibility of an "actual decline in material living stan–
dards" and certainly of great costs in social and cultural dislocation.
Immediately the argument then shifts to the impact of this economic
growth on inequality, and here Berger, following Simon Kuznets
and others, argues that while in early capitalism one may see an
increase in inequality, this is followed by a decline, and then it seems
a plateau is reached in the distribution of income that is not easily
affected by public policy . This plateau occurs only in part because of
redistributionist policies, in greater part because of a higher average
level of education , the great reduction in agricultural employment,
and other demographic and technological forces. These processes
seem rather similar in industrial capitalist and socialist societies.
Similarly, it does not seem possible to argue there is more social
mobility - movement from one class to another - in socialist than
capitalist societies.
In
both, there is moderate mobility, mostly
mediated through education. (Here perhaps Berger underestimates
the enormous shaking up when revolution occurs, but as for
established capitalist and socialist societies, the evidence suggests he
is right.)
One may thus see elements of convergence in all industrial
societies , capitalist or socialist, when it comes to prosperity and
inequality and social mobility. When it comes to liberty and democ–
racy, one would expect no such thing. Capitalism is in fact , today, a
necessary if not sufficient condition for democracy. No country on
the socialist side of the spectrum is a democracy. And yet Yugoslavia
and Hungary are undoubtedly freer than Soviet Russia and
Romania, and who knows what the future may bring for China.
