Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for "practical wisdom" as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.
In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of great abundance -- where individuals are offered more freedom and choice (personal, professional, material) than ever before -- are now witnessing a near-epidemic of depression? Conventional wisdom tells us that greater choice is for the greater good, but Schwartz argues the opposite: He makes a compelling case that the abundance of choice in today's western world is actually making us miserable.
Infinite choice is paralyzing, Schwartz argues, and exhausting to the human psyche. It leads us to set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, who and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too much choice undermines happiness.
Schwartz's previous research has addressed morality, decision-making and the varied inter-relationships between science and society. Before Paradox he published The Costs of Living, which traces the impact of free-market thinking on the explosion of consumerism -- and the effect of the new capitalism on social and cultural institutions that once operated above the market, such as medicine, sports, and the law.
Both books level serious criticism of modern western society, illuminating the under-reported psychological plagues of our time. But they also offer concrete ideas on addressing the problems, from a personal and societal level.
Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing
I thought the prevailing wisdom was that the bureaucracy charged with oversight of our financial institutions was not doing its job adequately. How does that get translated as "gone mad"?
Some financial advice to young people: don't try to borrow your way to happiness. Pay off your credit cards every month, don't use a second mortgage to go out and buy things that you don't need, try to pay off your mortgage if you have one, plan for a rainy day (especially retirement), and try to get a really good education, not necessarily in that order.
The only place I see a place for government involvement is where it concerns education. It is the education gap that has produced the wealth gap. It is the information gap that will decide who are the future masters. Those who have the information, can process it, know what to do with it in terms of realizing its useful value, and are able to act -- Rule. The current crisis and the wealth being made from it has much to do with spreadsheets, databases, the world-wide network, and PhD level physicist who wrote specialized applications to determine probability, viability, and deniability.
How one manages their personal finances should be part of education, not only of young people, but those who are long in the tooth as well. If the problem of gross mismanagement of funds is a systemic problem then perhaps any cure should be systemic in approach. Perhaps more TV and magazine content that makes learning about finance management fun as well as informative and helpful. Maybe some games for game consoles that promote good money management acumen. Perhaps the super rich can visit at risk environments and set an example of an in-your-face, hands-on approach to teaching money management.
All of your prescriptions are on target mammacat. In the telling, behavior takes over and we get people who undersubscribed (missing some aspect) or oversubscribe to that prescribed for wellness.
The introduction regarding the job description for janitors really hit the nail on the head. The way that companies and especially the way their hiring practices have been put into place actually eliminates some exceptionally bright people, due to the fact that all hiring is done through submitting resumes via computer. Everyone knows that to even get into a job interview, one must copy, almost verbatim, every single "key" word in a job description and put that into their resume. If the computer "likes" your resume, you are called in for an interview. If you graduated from college in the,70s or 80s you will be kicked out, because you are too old. All of this is reviewed by someone really has very little idea what the actual position entails. This is only part of the problem, but if this country is going to get back on its feet, the hiring practices need to be changed dramatically.
I am not in the job market. I could be for I am “highly skilled” in an area that has lots of openings. My roadblock is the love of the game no longer exists in terms of the realities of where the game is played. I still enjoy the challenges of the profession, but the corporate life combined with a disillusioning and disappointing surrounding world, finds me content to roam free. This is a pity, for never has America needed its individuals to step up as it needs them to do so now. I step up as I do, but not as I could, because I have not seen the proper amount of change to once again, catch fire for America. Mr. Obama winning the presidency was but a step in the right direction of the required systemic change. This nation is sick at the soul level and healing there will take years. I do not have that kind of time to waste on failed policies of the past, proven to be disastrous, unfair, and inhumane. What you describe fleaba is just another indication that the society still does not get it. It is not ready for meaningful change.
Brilliance without wisdom, without virtue, is a prescription for trouble.
People cling to the rules because they do not trust their own virtue. The indoctrination process has made them a mental slave to an external master, the rules. When faced with a decision that calls for discretion beyond what the rules say, many are hard pressed to meet the moment with what is called for, what is demanded by the situation at hand.
Scripted education robs an individual of their individual opportunity to explore at the earliest age and the most defining time, the limits of their potential and the realities of their limitations in such a way that the overall experience becomes a catalyst for greater growth of intellect, heart, mind, spirit. We are put into a box early and told, “That’s just the way it is.”, “Get used to it.”
The incentive has to be inherent to the work. A bonus while nice, should never become the focal point. If you are a janitor, then you must love the work and not the promise of the paycheck, otherwise you spend hours, days, months, and years defining/living your life based on a pursuit of money, doing something not for its intrinsic value which coincidently has an extrinsic incentive (paycheck) but simply for the promised payoff. Life is sad if all it is amounts to is a scrap of paper indicating some monetary value.
I can only speak as a man but I know what I am going to say applies to women. I cannot “get it up” for that which does not turn me on, and so it goes for any pursuit in life. How many are “getting up” in the morning to go do a task they hate because they are held captive by the dollar. Fifty years pass and you have settled, yet never discovered what you do love...what your potential suggests, what it allows for...your natural gifts. You made of lots of money though, you own things, and you consume. That becomes the measurement of quality of life. Think how that measurement has gotten this nation into the hot water of now. Love was stripped from the process and it became a strictly incentive-based proposition and quality suffered. Teaching became that, stenography became that, public service became that, law practice became that, policing became that, creativity and imagination became that, and yes, even childhood became that. Work stripped of love is an unattractive suitor with incentives, you really would rather not, but fear of starving compels engagement. Might as well be a dog. Might as well be an automaton. The essence of the system is wrong in that it values the wrong things. Its’ value are distortions and perversions of what truly makes nations great, what truly “keeps them safe”. No love equates to mediocrity in action. Multiply that by millions and you get precipitous downturn.