Features

Development Anthropologist

Published

5 months ago

2025/09/14

VARIETIES OF CASTE CONSCIOUSNESS. Edited with an
Introduction by Kalinga Tudor Silva
and Mark E Balmforth. In CASTE: A
Global Journal on Social Exclusion, Vol 6:
No. 1, April 2025.

Caste is a social reality that structures human relationships. It serves as a framework for managing interactions among individuals and a platform for organising political, social and economic reforms. The caste system, with its complex histories and multifaceted institutions, encompasses social, economic, cultural, and religious aspects of human life. It guides and sometimes forces people to live in a complex social, cultural, political, and religious milieu.

Bundles of rules and values that have emerged from various locations within religious, social, and political traditions and actions sustain them. A caste system, over time, becomes an engulfing culture that helps organise people and their communities into a rigid system of relationships, hierarchically organised, and sometimes, sanctioned by dominant religions, such as Hinduism.

As a rigid hierarchical system, caste thrives on systemic a priori inclusion and exclusion modalities. Ambedkar aptly summarised the roots and the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion as follows:

The outcaste, a term used to describe those who are considered untouchable and outside the caste system, is a byproduct of the caste system. There will be outcasts as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the outcaste except by the destruction of the caste system. Nothing can ensure their survival except the purging of the Hindu faith of this odious and vicious dogma.

Ambedkar’s tireless advocacy for outcaste (Dalit) communities to adopt his visionary ideals of liberty, social justice, and equality helped to take caste out of parochial village spaces and premise it in a broader public sphere. According to him, national and regional Hindu dominance in India blocks the opportunities that the Dalits also can occupy to achieve a more just society. Ambedkar rejected Gandhi’s Harijan Seva Sangh because it was a paternalistic mechanism that reinforced Hindu dominance rather than empowered the Dalits.

Moreover, the Harijan Seva Sangh denied the lower castes an independent expression of their authentic social identity, thereby tacitly claiming their acquiescence to an inegalitarian social and ethical value set. Ambedkar recognised the embeddedness of the caste system in Hindu society and the economy. He wanted to ‘annihilate’ the caste system because nothing can emancipate the outcaste without first destroying the caste system.

Illustration of Ambedkar’s conversion of Dailts to Buddhism

Caste takes different forms in different countries. In India, Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants), and Sudras (labourers) form a caste system. It excludes the Dalits (outcastes or untouchables), who are not part of the varna system. The sacred dimension of the caste system enables the Brahmins to become the custodians of Hindu values, beliefs, practices and resources. The binary of ‘sacred’ and ‘polluted’ not only keeps the Dalits out of the hierarchy but also justifies exploitation and violence against them.

In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, the caste system does not have a manifested sacred dimension as found in India. There is no Brahmin caste in Sri Lanka, except for a few Hindu priests who handle Hindu rituals. The allocation of people and communities to various castes based on sacred and polluted criteria is absent in Sri Lanka. Instead, employment and differential ethics of interaction indicate the relative status of a caste in the caste hierarchy.

Although a caste system is a vertically organised system with formidable barriers against upward mobility, several mechanisms facilitate caste mobility. One is Sanskritization. By imitating the value system and general behaviour of the upper caste, a lower caste can, over a long period of time, move upward in the hierarchy, but still create a ‘shadow effect’ on the Dalits. Another way to climb higher, bypassing various rigidities, is to physically move away from the original location and embrace westernisation, primarily through education, mastering new skills, and investments in land and businesses.

The State and non-state sectors provide the most promising way for upward mobility through development programmes aimed at social transformation and land reform. Such programmes empower the lower castes and outcastes by treating them as normal citizens with equal rights to life, who can share in egalitarian state welfare.

The co-editors introduced the four articles (read at a symposium on Caste in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Diaspora), succinctly outlining the main arguments and findings under three main themes. One theme is the legacy of the colonial administration, which attempted to separate caste from class to create the impression that caste is dead and the elite is triumphant. The second is historical mediation, which has shaped the expectations and imaginings of different castes and their coexistence with class identities, without erasing the binary of inclusion and exclusion. The third theme is that the caste system remains alive as a complex social reality influencing political, economic, cultural, and social spaces, refuting the belief that it has succumbed to modernisation and globalisation. The findings underscore the urgent need for further research and policy action to address this persistent issue.

Article 1 – Dynamics between Cinnamon and Salagama People – examines how the domestication of cinnamon production helped consolidate the caste system in southern Sri Lanka. It is premised on a ‘multispecies’ perspective to highlight the roles of human and non-human actors in shaping the Sinhala caste system. Apart from human interlocutors, a particular plant species, cinnamon, is associated with the natural resource base of the Sinhala caste system. Thus, the specificity of and challenges for caste need to be understood not only from the angle of social justice and human rights but also in terms of environmental justice and sustainability of caste occupations. Global marketing challenges, the absence of quality control mechanisms, land scarcity, urbanization, and smallholder farming practices have challenged the coexistence between the plant and the caste. Such factors have encouraged the formation of a subaltern group of low-paid cinnamon workers.

Article 2 – Cultural Ambivalences Towards and Among Drummer Caste Members explores three types of cultural ambivalences. One is the Sinhala society’s attitudes towards the caste; the second is the State’s ambivalence towards the drummer caste; and the third is mixed attitudes towards drumming and rituals within the caste itself. The article highlights how the drummer caste has reacted and coped with such ambivalences. The neoliberal economic framework has enhanced such ambivalences in the context of radical political movements such as the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP). Some gave up drumming and dancing altogether and transitioned to non-caste employment and businesses. In contrast, others took advantage of the new opportunities opened up by the local tourist economy to earn a living through performing their ritualistic performances.

Article 3 – Recasting the Brahmin: the Epistemic Critique of Caste – discusses how the Sinhala literature has emphasized ethnicity over caste in selecting themes for creative writing, reflecting the public silence on the caste system. Based on Martin Wickramasighe’s Bava Tharanaya (Crossing the Cycle of Existence) and Bamunu Kulaye Bindavatima (Fall of the Brahmin Caste), the article examines the justification and limitations of knowledge and belief, questioning how and why particular claims are accepted or rejected, thereby fostering more rigorous understanding and critical thinking. As allegorical narratives, the two books present stories where characters, events, and settings represent deeper, symbolic meanings that are moral and political in nature. They are useful literary devices, the article argues, to sensitize the Sinhala reading public about the caste at a time when caste has become politically salient.

Article 4 – Caste, Space, and Retail Religiosity in Tamil Toronto demonstrates how the caste system still plays an important role in the Tamil diaspora in Canada, particularly in marriage partner selection at the family level, and temple construction and welfare activities at the community level. The article shows that emigrants from Sri Lanka to Canada think that their community cultural centres, such as Hindu temples, should deploy caste as a part of their cultural heritage that includes temples, the Tamil language, and Tamil music. The emigrant generation believes that preserving such heritage would help them and their children survive in a foreign environment.

The first generation, born in Canada, on the other hand, are reticent about caste, and sees it as an inappropriate transplant that makes it more difficult for them, to assimilate into local communities. The article describes significant differences between diaspora temples in Toronto and Tamil temples in Sri Lanka. Such differences are structural and could impact on the survival of the caste in its current form. Hindu temples in Toronto are often movable entities, frequently located in urban areas within rented warehouses. Local Zoning laws and the ‘light industrial’ retail market limit the sacred rights of Hindu caste groups in owning temple land. Toronto temple custodians move back and forth between describing temples as businesses and as kôvil. Temple managers use mass media to attract devotees in a competitive temple market. Moreover, Toronto temples attract diaspora devotees by offering a shelter from the morally corrosive, identity-eroding influences of urban Canada.

Five general research articles on Indian caste issues follow the four symposium articles. The first research Article – Reimagining Resources: The Politics of Dalit Land Struggles – analyses the history and dynamics of land alienation in Kerala, the representation of land in social reform movements that transcend Brahmin-imposed sub-caste fragmentation, and how social reforms provide a platform to assert the rights of the deprived sections. Although some reform movements have unified the untouchable castes around common concerns such as land ownership and education, the ruling classes, dominated by higher castes, with the support of the Communist Party, have thwarted such movements by employing the strategy of sub-caste fragmentation. The article recognizes the value and usefulness of charismatic leaders who can guide social mobilization, particularly in a caste-ridden society, to build trust and unity among the depressed castes.

The second research article – Struggle for Emancipation and Dalit Consciousness – analyses inter-generational struggles among Dalits to emancipate themselves from high-caste aggression. The article is based on an autobiography ‘My Father Baliah.’ By following one family over three generations, the autobiography examines the rise, fall, and resurgence of the caste system. During the second ascending generation, “untouchability presented itself glaringly just like the sound of a howling steam engine.”

During the British period, the caste system became antithetical to the modernity introduced through colonialism. However, it did not vanish altogether. Instead, it has transformed into subtler forms of aggression by silently infiltrating modern institutions, thereby posing a threat to the struggles for Dalit emancipation. The “upper” caste people and also the Sudras were reluctant to discard their superiority and purity claims, not only within colonial institutions but also in post-independent India. The book reaffirms Ambedkar’s observation that no constitutional safeguards so far had really helped the hapless Dalits; they remained excluded, segregated and untouchable in free India. The mindset of upper-caste Hindus had not changed much despite the relentless efforts of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

The third research article – From Margins to Mainstream: Caste, Women, and Panchayati Institutions – evaluates the effects of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Amendment Act, 2015, on the empowerment of Scheduled Caste women in Panchayati Raj Institutions. It argues that empowerment of women, particularly in political contexts, is vital for advancing gender equality and enabling them to combat social and economic marginalization and exploitation by higher castes. The article emphasizes the need for targeted educational initiatives to encourage female participation in development discourse.

The fourth research article – Caste Prejudices in Denial: University Students’ Perceptions – points out that caste prejudices are more pronounced among dominant castes than among others, and are more likely to resist caste-oriented reforms, such as reservations and inter-caste marriages, by delegitimizing caste as a category of contemporary discrimination. At the same time, the disadvantaged communities demonstrate their awareness of the structural inequalities that suppress them. The above patterns mirror broader societal trends in India, where dominant caste groups often endorse economic or meritocratic framings to avoid the acknowledgment of caste inequalities. Caste group identification has emerged as a key predictor in shaping the views on reservation policies.

The ‘General’ category people perceive the policies as unfair and discriminatory because they think such policies would shrink their opportunities to gain. Conversely, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backwards caste categories support reservation policies, as they directly benefit from the affirmative actions. The article also reaffirms the importance of higher education as a potential space for social transformation, as it engages students in meaningful reflection and cross-group interaction.

The fifth Research Article – Consciousness Not Without Dangers – focuses on Dalits’ willingness to abandon Hinduism as a protest against untouchability, assert their rights as citizens, and also to escape from its suppression. The key question is whether the Dalits have the capacity to break free from the caste system and become a new, independent Self. The article cogently points out the risks and dangers that surround such a willingness and actions. The majority of Hindus would consider such converted Dalits as transgressors who have challenged the social stratification of the sacred Hindu caste system. Such actions inevitably invite physical violence and violation of their constitutional rights. In the case of Dalit conversions to non-Indic religions, violence tends to be overt, raw, and physical, often driven by a fear of losing cultural and social control within the Hindu fold. In contrast, conversions to Indic religions, which theoretically reject the caste system, face more covert forms of violence, such as legal and political obstacles.

The absence of a concluding chapter, especially one summarising the five general research articles and providing a general conclusion for the entire collection, leaves the reader with the intellectual task of connecting the dots between the articles. From a stylistic point of view, symposium articles are well structured and edited than the five general research articles. Although the difference between an ‘article’ and a ‘research article’ is known to academic journal readers, the general reader might get confused by the distinction. They might think the distinction reflects the quality or the depth of an article.

The articles cogently deliver a cohesive narrative of how caste is embedded in the South Asian social fabric, reinforcing social hierarchies, maintaining power structures, and ensuring their continuity. The authors have elaborated on covert forms of everyday caste aggression, resistance, and compliance in rural spaces and urban environments. Some articles have shown how school education and the generation of non-caste employment help the privileged and the non-privileged to move upwards in social and economic ladders. The collection highlights the need for further anthropological research on caste systems, caste politics, social and economic transformations, Dalit resistance movements, and the role of the State in actively promoting Dalit emancipation. The articles will also interest those curious about caste and mobility, as they offer a compelling and multifaceted examination of the caste system.

A Review Article

by Jayantha Perera ✍️

All News Advertisement

Features

Immediate industrial reforms critical for Sri Lanka’s future

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/2

Thilina Walpola

Sri Lanka’s industrial sector has historically been an engine of growth, employment, and exports. Yet today, many industries face structural challenges, outdated practices, and intense global competition. Immediate and comprehensive policy reforms are, therefore, both urgent and essential—not only to revive growth but also to secure the future prosperity of the country.

Strengthening economic growth and diversification

Industries contribute significantly to GDP and export earnings. They create value-added products, reduce import dependency, and improve trade balances. Sri Lanka’s economy remains overly reliant on a few traditional sectors, such as garments and tea. Industrial reforms can encourage diversification into higher-value manufacturing, technology-driven production, and knowledge-based industries, increasing resilience against global shocks.

Job creation and social stability

The industrial sector is a major source of formal employment, particularly for youth and women. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provide both direct and indirect jobs. Without reforms, job creation is limited, pushing young people to seek opportunities abroad, which drains talent and exacerbates social and economic inequality. By modernising industries and supporting SME growth, the country can create high-quality, sustainable employment, reduce migration pressures, and promote social stability.

Competitiveness and export expansion

Sri Lanka faces stiff competition from countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India in textiles, garments, and other manufacturing exports. Many local industries struggle with outdated technology, high production costs, and weak supply chains. Urgent reforms—such as improving industrial infrastructure, incentivising technology adoption, and simplifying trade regulations—are critical to enhancing competitiveness, retaining market share, and expanding exports.

Attracting domestic and foreign investment

Investors require clarity, stability, and efficient regulatory processes. Complex licensing, bureaucratic delays, and inconsistent policies deter both domestic and foreign investment. By implementing transparent and predictable industrial policies, the government can attract capital, encourage innovation, and accelerate industrial modernisation. Investment is not just about funding production—it is also about transferring technology and upgrading skills, which is essential for long-term industrial development.

Promoting innovation and technological upgrading

Many Sri Lankan industries continue to rely on outdated production methods and low-value processes, limiting productivity, efficiency, and global competitiveness. Comprehensive industrial reforms can incentivise research and development, digitalisation, automation, and adoption of green technologies, enabling local industries to move up the value chain and produce higher-value goods. This is particularly urgent as global competitors are rapidly implementing Industry 4.0 standards, including AI-driven production, smart logistics, and sustainable manufacturing. Without modernisation, Sri Lanka risks not only losing export opportunities but also falling permanently behind in technological capabilities, undermining long-term industrial growth and economic resilience.

Strengthening supply chains and local linkages

Effective industrial reform can improve integration between agriculture, services, and manufacturing. For example, better industrial policies can ensure that local raw materials are efficiently used, logistics systems are modernised, and SMEs are integrated into global supply chains. This creates multiplier effects across the economy, stimulating productivity, innovation, and competitiveness beyond the industrial sector itself.

Environmental sustainability and resilience

Global trends demand green and sustainable industrial practices. Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore climate-friendly production methods, energy efficiency, or waste management. Reforms that promote sustainable manufacturing, circular economy principles, and renewable energy adoption will future-proof industries, improve international market access, and ensure compliance with global trade standards.

Institutional capacity and governance

Industrial reforms are not just about incentives; they require strong institutions capable of policy design, monitoring, and enforcement. Weak governance, policy inconsistency, and politicisation have historically undermined industrial development in Sri Lanka. Strengthening industrial institutions, simplifying bureaucracy, and ensuring accountability are essential components of meaningful reform.

Responding to global technological and trade shifts

The industrial landscape is rapidly changing due to digitalisation, automation, AI, and new global trade patterns. Sri Lanka must adapt quickly to benefit from global industrial trends rather than risk falling behind regional competitors. Immediate reform will allow industries to adopt modern production systems, integrate with global value chains, and improve export competitiveness.

Conclusion

Industrial policy reforms in Sri Lanka are urgent because delays threaten employment, competitiveness, and investment. They are important because a modern, resilient industrial sector is crucial for economic growth, export expansion, technological advancement, social stability, and environmental sustainability. Strategic, forward-looking reforms will not only save existing industries but also position Sri Lanka for a prosperous, resilient, and inclusive future.

(The writer is a former senior public servant and policy specialist.)

BY Chinthaka Samarawickrama Lokuhetti

Features

How to insult friends and intimidate people!

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/2

Thilina Walpola

Trump in Davos

US President Donald Trump is insulting friends and intimidating others. Perhaps. Following his rare feat of securing a non-consecutive second term, one would have expected Trump to be magnanimous, humble and strive to leave an imprint in world history as a statesman. However, considering the unfolding events, it is more likely that he will be leaving an imprint but for totally different reasons!

From the time of his re-election, Trump has apparently been determined to let the world know who the ‘boss’ is and wanted to Make America Great Again (MAGA) by economic measures that were detrimental even to his neighbours and friends, totally disregarding the impact it may have on the world economy. Some of his actions were risky and may well have backfired. Businessmen are accustomed to taking risks and he appears to behave as a businessman rather than as a politician. There was hardly any significant resistance to his arbitrary tariff increases except from China. He craved for the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have ended and prevented wars and, and unashamedly posed for a picture when the Nobel Peace Prize was ‘presented’ to him by the winner! To add insult to injury, Trump demonstrated his ignorance by blaming the Norwegian Prime Minister for having overlooked him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He should surely have known, before the Norwegian PM pointed out, that the awardee was chosen by a non-governmental committee.

Trump’s erratic behaviour reached its climax in Davos. He came to Davos determined to railroad the European leaders into accepting his bid to acquire Greenland and seemed to do so by hurling insults left, right and centre! Even before he started the trip to Davos, Trump had already imposed a 10% tariff on imports from seven European countries including the UK, increasing to 25% from the beginning of February, until he was able to acquire Greenland. In a rambling speech, lasting over an hour, he referred to Greenland as Iceland on four different occasions.

Exaggerating the part played by the US in World War II Trump proclaimed “Without us right now, you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese”. After making a hideous claim that the US had handed Greenland to Denmark, after World War II, Trump said, “We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember”. A veiled threat, perhaps!

However, the remark that irked the UK most was his reference to the war in Afghanistan. He repeated the claim, made to Fox News, that NATO had sent ‘some troops’. but that they ‘had stayed a little back, a little off the front line’. On top of politicians, infuriated families of over 500 soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the front-lines in Afghanistan, started protesting which forced the British PM Keir Starmer to abandon the hitherto used tactic of flattery to win over Trump, to state that Trump’s remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling.” After a call from Starmer, Trump posted a praise on his Truth Social platform that UK troops are “among the greatest of all warriors”!

The resistance to Trump’s attempts at reverting to ‘unconstrained power of Great Powers’, which was replaced by the ‘rule-based-order’ after World War II, was spearheaded from an unlikely quarter. It was by Mark Carney, financier turned politician, PM of Canada. He was the Governor of the Bank of England, during the disastrous David Cameron administration, and left the post with hardly any impact but seems to have become a good politician. He apparently has hit Trump where it hurts most, as in his speech, Trump stated that Canada was living on USA and warned Carney about his language!

Mark Carney’s warning that this was a moment of “rupture” with the established rules-based international order giving way to a new world of Great Power politics and his rallying cry that “the middle powers” needed to act together, need to be taken seriously. What would the world come to, unless there is universal condemnation of actions like the forcible extraction of the Venezuelan President which, unfortunately, did not happen maybe because of the fear of Trump heaping more tariffs etc? What started in Venezuela can end up anywhere. Who appointed the US to be the policeman of the world?

With words, Trump gave false hope to protesters rebelling against the theocracy in Iran but started showing naval strength only after the regime crushed the rebellion by killing, according to some estimates, up to 25,000 protesters. If he decides to attack, Iran is bound to retaliate, triggering another war. In fact, Trump was crass enough to state that he no longer cares for peace as he was snubbed by the Nobel Peace committee! Trump is terrorising his own people as is happening in Minnesota but that is a different story.

Already the signs of unity, opposing Trump’s irrationalities, are visible. Almost all NATO members opposing Trump’s plans resulted in his withdrawal from Greenland acquisition plans. To save face, he gave the bogus excuse that he had reached an ever-lasting settlement! Rather than flattery, Trump’s idiosyncrasies need to be countered without fear, as well illustrated by the stance the British PM was forced to take on the Afghan war issue. For the sake of world peace, let us hope that Trump will be on the retreat from now.

Mark Carney’s pivotal speech received a well-deserved and rare standing ovation in Davos. One can only hope that he will practice what he preached to the world, when it comes to internal politics of his country. It is no secret that vote-bank politics is playing a significant role in Canadian politics. I do hope he will be able to curtail the actions of remnants of terrorist groups operating freely in Canada.

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Features

Trump is a product of greed-laden American decadence

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/2

Thilina Walpola

One wonders why the people of the US, who have built the most technologically and economically advanced country, ever elected Donald Trump as their President, not once, but twice. His mistakes and blunders in his first term are too numerous to mention, but a few of the most damaging to the working people are as follows:

Trump brought in tax cuts that overwhelmingly favour the wealthy over the average worker. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) signed into law, at the end of 2017, provides a permanent cut in the corporate income tax rate that will overwhelmingly benefit capital owners and the top one percent. His new laws took billions out of workers’ pockets by weakening or abandoning regulations that protect their pay. In 2017 the Trump administration hurt workers’ pay in many ways, including acts to dismantle two key regulations that protect the pay of low- to middle-income workers. These failures to protect workers’ pay could cost workers an estimated $7 billion per year. In 2017, the Trump administration—in a virtually unprecedented move—switched sides in a case before the US Supreme Court and fought on the side of corporate interests and against workers.

Trump’s policies on climate change could ruin the global plans to cut down emissions and reduce warming, which has already affected the US equally badly as anywhere else in the world. Trump ridiculed the idea of man-made climate change, and repeatedly referred to his energy policy under the mantra “drill, baby, drill”. He said he would increase oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal producers, and stated his goal for the United States to have the lowest cost of electricity and energy of any country in the world. Trump also promised to roll back electric vehicle initiatives, proposed once again the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and rescind several environmental regulations. The implementation of Trump’s plans would add around 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, also having effects on the international level. If the policies do not change further, it would add 15 billion tons by 2040 and 27 billion by 2050. Although the exact calculation is difficult, researchers stated: “Regardless of the precise impact, a second Trump term that successfully dismantles Biden’s climate legacy would likely end any global hopes of keeping global warming below 1.5C.” ( Evans, et al, 2024). Despite all these anti-social policies Trump was voted into power for a second term.

Arguments suggesting the USA is a decadent society, defined as a wealthy civilisation in a state of stagnation, exhaustion, and decline, are increasingly common among commentators. Evidence cited includes political gridlock, economic stagnation since the 1970s, demographic decline, and a shift toward a “cultural doom loop” of repeating past ideas (Douthat, 2024, New York Times).

First, we will look at the economic aspect of the matter though the moral and spiritual degradation may be more important, for it is the latter that often causes the former . The reasons for the economic decline, characterised by increase in inequality, dates back to the seventies. Between 1973 and 2000, the average income of the bottom 90 percent of US taxpayers fell by seven percent. Incomes of the top one percent rose by 148 percent, the top 0.1 percent by 343 percent, and the top 0.01 percent rose by 599 percent. The redistribution of income and wealth was detrimental to most Americans.

If the income distribution had remained unchanged from the mid-1970s, by 2018, the median income would be 58 percent higher ($21,000 more a year). The decline in profits was halted, but at the expense of working families. Stagnant wages, massive debt and ever longer working hours became their fate.

Since 1973, the US has experienced slower growth, lower productivity, and a diminished share of global manufacturing, notes the (American Enterprise Institute). Despite the low growth, the rich have doubled their wealth. In our opinion this is due to the “unleash of a culture of greed” that Joseph Stiglitz spoke about.

Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has frequently argued that the United States has unleashed a culture of greed, selfishness, and deregulation, which he blames for extreme inequality, financial crises, and environmental destruction.

Income stagnation is not the only quality of life indicator that suffered. In 1980, life expectancy in the US was about average for an affluent nation. By the 2020s, it dropped to the lowest among wealthy countries, even behind China or Chile, largely due to the stagnation of life expectancy for working-class people. With regard to quality of life the US has fallen to 41st in global, UN-aligned, sustainable development rankings, highlighting issues with infrastructure and social systems, (The Conversation). The political system is described as trapped in a “stale system” with high polarisation, resulting in inaction rather than progress, (Douthat, New York Times).

It is often the moral and spiritual degradation that causes an overall decline in all aspects of life, including the US economy. Statistics on crime, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide rate and mental health issues in the US, which are the indicators for moral and spiritual status of a society, are not very complimentary. The Crime Index in the US is 49 while it is 23 in China and 32 in Russia. Drug abuse rate is 16.8% in the US and alcohol addiction is 18%. Mental illness in adults is as common as 23%. Only about 31% follow a religion. Erich Fromm in his book, titled “Sane Society,” refers to these facts to make a case that the US and also other countries in the West are not sane societies.

Let us now look at Joseph Stiglitz’s thoughts on greed which is the single most important factor in the aetiology of moral degradation in the US society. Stiglitz has directly linked corporate greed and the pursuit of immediate, short-term profits to accelerating climate change and economic failure for the majority of Americans. He argues that “free” (unregulated) markets in the US have not led to growth, but rather to the exploitation of workers and consumers, allowing the top 1% to siphon wealth from the rest of society. Stiglitz argues that neoliberalism, which he calls “ersatz capitalism,” has fostered a moral system where banks are “too big to fail, but too big to be held accountable,” rewarding greedy, risky behaviour. He contends that US economic policies have been designed to favour the wealthy, creating a “rigged” economy where the middle class is shrinking. In essence, Stiglitz argues that the US has allowed a “neoliberal experiment” to turn capitalism into a system focused on greed, which is harming the economy, the environment, and the social fabric.

Big oil companies spent a stunning $445m throughout the last election cycle to influence Donald Trump and Congress, a new analysis has found. These investments are “likely to pay dividends”, the report says, with Republicans holding control of the White House, House and Senate – as well as some key states. Trump unleashed dozens of pro-fossil fuel executive actions on his first day in office and is expected to pursue a vast array of others with cooperation from Congress (The Guardian, Jan 2025).

Trump himself has accumulated wealth just as much as the rest of billionaires, and his poor voters are becoming poorer. He is greedy for wealth and power. He is carving up the world and is striving to annex as much of it as possible at the expense of sovereignty of other countries, the US allies, and international law.

Greed is an inherent human character which when unfettered could result in psychopathic monsters like Hitler. A new world order will have to take into serious consideration this factor of greed and evolve a system that does not depend on greed as the driver of its economy.

by N. A. de S. Amaratunga