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holodoxa 's review for:
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
by John Mackey, Rajendra Sisodia
Mackey and Sisodia would like you to know that they share your left-wing cultural values and want to do everything they can to make you feel morally superior, smart, and important so damnit you need to see that capitalism is pretty freaking amazing (and in the meantime start eating better by shopping at Whole Foods). The genius plan: mix the woo woo and goodie goodie with some Hayek and Friedman; good to save the world. Also, don't listen to the big baddies on Wall Street and their cronies manipulating government cause they're just operating a fancy casino. Instead vibe with Whole Foods' hippiness while you munch your new plant food burger and guzzle your kombucha (don't worry Mackey will still have the mochi bar ready for dessert cause you know sometimes you just have to give people what they want even if it's sugary). We all know in our heart of hearts a little more company-wide meditation and community service with earning caps on the C suite will fix every real and imagined externality of free markets conjured by your neighborhood Marx-quoting Malthusian. Begone anomie, inequality, boom-bust cycle, rent-seeking, and market failure, we can do capitalism with rainbows and butterflies.
But seriously, despite the wild-eyed, psychedelic-infused idealism, this work does make a persuasive defense of the value of capitalism and presents the tenets of "conscious capitalism." This business philosophy (rather than a macroeconomic theory or structural change) responds to the concerns raised about the purported ruthlessness of "shareholder capitalism" and the iniquity of "crony capitalism." I appreciate the attempt to persuade critics of capitalism from their ahistorical, anti-empirical, and utterly ignorant position, but they sometimes cede unnecessary ground to these critics. Additionally, it requires unwarranted hubris to believe that any single entity (government or business) knows what's best for society. This type of thinking lends itself to the socialized restrictions and cronyism, the authors purportedly abhor. In reality, conscious capitalism is an ingenious marketing scheme that defenestrates the opponents of capitalism, making it look prettier and palatable to their sophomoric and/or thoughtless ethical systems. On this basis alone, I could tolerate some of the goofiness embedded in this book.
But seriously, despite the wild-eyed, psychedelic-infused idealism, this work does make a persuasive defense of the value of capitalism and presents the tenets of "conscious capitalism." This business philosophy (rather than a macroeconomic theory or structural change) responds to the concerns raised about the purported ruthlessness of "shareholder capitalism" and the iniquity of "crony capitalism." I appreciate the attempt to persuade critics of capitalism from their ahistorical, anti-empirical, and utterly ignorant position, but they sometimes cede unnecessary ground to these critics. Additionally, it requires unwarranted hubris to believe that any single entity (government or business) knows what's best for society. This type of thinking lends itself to the socialized restrictions and cronyism, the authors purportedly abhor. In reality, conscious capitalism is an ingenious marketing scheme that defenestrates the opponents of capitalism, making it look prettier and palatable to their sophomoric and/or thoughtless ethical systems. On this basis alone, I could tolerate some of the goofiness embedded in this book.