2 minute read
Have you ever noticed that quite often those who most fervently defend the capitalist economic system are one in the same as those who most intensely advocate for the detached nuclear family model as the societal ideal? That’s no coincidence. It’s not because capitalism and the nuclear family are both part of a “biblical worldview,” either.1 It’s because our capitalist economy and nuclear family kinship structure are completely interwoven. Each one serves and reinforces the other in an endless cycle of greater felt-needs for materialism, privacy, and individual expression.
Shrewd investigators always say to follow the money if you want to understand the underlying motives, so think about it. It’s an economic windfall if the societal expectation is nuclear families who live in separate residences. Obviously that means each family unit needs its own apartment or house, which in turn means it’s much more difficult for extended families to share goods and services. That results in the purchase and servicing of more cars and tools, air conditioners and refrigerators, washing machines and cleaning supplies, kitchen tables and TVs, and so forth.
Breaking down a society into its smallest possible family unit while psychologically marketing individualist happiness is the ultimate economic advantage. It both requires and encourages more consumption. Remember the scene in The Avengers where Bruce Banner says, “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.” Likewise, the hidden in plain sight “secret” of American economic prosperity is that we’re always individualistic. Unprecedented levels of independence and privacy mean we all just plain have to consume more shit, which is the goal of capitalistic materialism.2
It’s not hard to see how why this line of inquiry infuriates many people both within and without the Christian community. They register this reconsideration of our presumed cultural values, ideals, norms, customs, and expectations as an existential threat to their way of life. Questioning the unmitigated good of one of these social institutions directly calls the other into question. Why? Because post-WWII capitalist materialism and the detached nuclear family model are in cahoots.3 Sadly, few Christians subject this economic-familial alliance to spiritual scrutiny.4
The original beatniks took any available opportunity to critique capitalistic materialism with glee. Now you understand why the Beats also critiqued the emerging suburbanized, detached nuclear family model of the 1950s.5 My beatnik Christian outlook supports a Bailey-style sustainable capitalism and abhors the Potter-style unsustainable capitalism.6 Likewise, I only value kinship structures that provide a sustainable social support network. Key word: sustainable. As interwoven capitalistic materialism and detached nuclear families are often/usually practiced, they’re not.
That’s anachronistic nonsense. Neither of these social institutions existed in the Ancient Near Eastern or Ancient Greco-Roman world.↩
I’m gonna throw this out there, too:
For anyone who thinks capitalistic greed is killing the planet… ya know, fair enough. But you can’t question our economic system without also questioning our kinship structures, you can’t question our kinship structures without questioning our cultural values, and you can’t question our cultural values without questioning your love of hyper-individualism. That’s something I hear almost none of the progressive critics of capitalism doing. They want to jettison “late-stage capitalism” while keeping their beloved hyper-individualism intact, which is ridiculous and naive. Connect the dots, people.↩
It’s almost like a military alliance between nations where a threat to one is a threat to all.↩
It’s like Eisenhower’s “military-industrial complex” idea.↩
They were and are bedfellows.↩
This metaphor brought to you by It’s A Wonderful Life.↩
