“This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect, persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.”
More than 250 years later, Adam Smith’s observation from The Theory of Moral Sentiments is still a constant refrain in discussions of culture. The Culture War, which seems to be always with us, finds its fuel in exactly this corruption of our moral sentiments. Some rich or powerful person engages in yet another violation of long established community norms and the commentators come out of the woodwork declaring the end of civilization. People want to keep up with the Kardashians because they are so young and beautiful and rich, but what happens when they turn into objects of worship?
The solution? It seems obvious to many commentators that we need to tear down the corrupt moral culture and insist that people follow a better set of cultural norms. The strategy is frequently wholesale attacks on contemporary culture. If only we could prove to the population at large that the cultural norms of their objects of worship are terribly degrading to human soul. Perhaps an even stronger denunciation will finally get through to people.
But, as Smith goes on to note, the problem is deeper than the culture warriors want to admit.
It is from our disposition to admire, and consequently to imitate, the rich and the great, that they are enabled to set, or to lead, what is called the fashion. Their dress is the fashionable dress; the language of their conversation, the fashionable style; their air and deportment, the fashionable behaviour. Even their vices and follies are fashionable; and the greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the very qualities which dishonour and degrade them.
The admiration people have for the rich and great leads them to want to imitate their style and behavior. It is not, however, only the dress or language which people imitate, it is also their vices and follies. People are proud to imitate even the most degrading aspects of their behavior.
If Smith is right, then it is no wonder that the attacks on popular culture have so little impact. It does no good to tell people that the acts of the rich and famous are degrading if people are proud to imitate those acts even though they are degrading. The desire to imitate the successful runs deep in human character. As reading Smith makes clear, this is not a modern phenomenon; it seems to be a constant in human behavior.
What then can be done? Captain Kirk has an answer.
Read the rest at AdamSmithWorks
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