Religion & Liberty

RELIGION & LIBERTY July and August • 1999 A Publication of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty Volume 9 • Number 4 The Free Society Requires a Moral Sense, Social Capital Interview: James Q. Wilson Wilson: Capitalism seeks ways to mini- mize costs, so it will find racial discrimi- James Q. Wilson, Ph.D., is an emeritus professor at the nation burdensome, thus helping put an Anderson Graduate School of Management at the Uni- end to it. Gary Becker, the Nobel laure- versity of California–Los Angeles. He is the author or ate, showed how costly bigotry is. It coauthor of twelve books, including The Moral Sense shuts a firm off from many potential and, his most recent, Moral Judgement. In 1990 he re- customers and from many potential ceived the James Madison Award for distinguished schol- workers, thus lowering sales and rais- arship from the American Political Science Association. ing labor costs. The costs of segregation can be withstood when law and custom R&L: Unlike defenders of capitalism “Yes, sir” to every customer. People mandate it, but when segregation ended such as Friedrich von Hayek and Philip working for minimum wage will do this in the South, business firms desegre- Johnson, who view capitalism as a mor- countless times a day and, in time, I sus- gated much more quickly than govern- ally neutral system, you see a clear re- pect, will do it even when off the job. ment entities, such as schools. lationship between morality and the Or imagine competing for customers free market. To your way of thinking, with Burger King, Taco Bell, and R&L: You have noted that the free what is the connection between capi- Wendy’s. Each firm must work hard to market cannot function well without talism and morality? please customers by serving fresh food certain kinds of moral and social capi- with no harmful consequences. Success- tal—trust, diligence, and frugality, for Wilson: To me, capitalism is neither ful retail competitors act as if they are— example. Where does this capital come immoral nor amoral but, on balance, a and, I imagine, in fact, really are—more from and how is it preserved? moralizing force. True competition gives attractive people than unsuccessful ones, to businesspeople an incentive to acquire but some of the latter learn to be the Wilson: Free-market systems require, a good reputation, and to clerks an in- former. obviously, certain personal qualities, centive to treat customers fairly. These including trust in those who borrow incentives, I think, produce more than R&L: What other examples can you from you, a willingness to invest (that mere pretense; they actually change be- offer of ways that capitalist structures is, to defer present enjoyments for fu- havior. Imagine working at McDonald’s act as a moralizing influence in a free ture benefits), and a readiness to take the where you must say “Yes, ma’am” or society? demands of customers seriously. This INSIDE THIS ISSUE • Interview: James Q. Wilson ❦ Articles: “The International Vocation of American Business” by Michael Novak, and “Common Law and the Free Society” by David VanDrunen ❦ Review Essay: “Francis Fukuyama’s Unhappy Optimism” by Marc D. Guerra ❦ Book Review: Ingrid A. Merikoski on Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment ❦ In the Liberal Tradition: Samuel Cooper ❦ Column: “Rediscovering the Sacred in Secular Spaces” by Rev. Robert A. Sirico ❦ Plus Book News. social capital arises from long-sustained In addition, religion must coexist successes rests in part on his unusual competition, from a culture that assigns with human freedom, and this relation- definition of capitalism. To him, capi- a high value to making human charac- ship, of necessity, requires religious talism was not simply a system of people ter decent, and from a political system freedom. With such freedom, many sects who own private property and who en- that refrains from rewarding people for will prosper, and none will be the sole gage in voluntary transactions; it was their power rather than for their perfor- state church. But religious freedom does that, plus a reliance on credit to finance mance. not mean religious weakness, since vir- innovations. Capitalism alone cannot produce I think he was wrong. Credit cre- sufficient social capital. Culture and ation has not had the effects he sus- government must add their share by Religion must coexist with human pected of killing technological giving people incentives to be civil, innovation and rewarding only the by rewarding savings, and by en- freedom, and this relationship, of largest and most powerful firms. couraging trust. Because culture and necessity, requires religious Because he was wrong about this, government are so important, suc- freedom. With such freedom, he was wrong to predict that social- cessfully capitalistic nations tend to ism would, in time, replace capital- be democratic states with a strong many sects will prosper, and none ism. culture. This is why democracy and will be the sole state church. But capitalism together make some na- religious freedom does not mean R&L: Do the changes that capital- tions so much richer than others. religious weakness. ism precipitates in the social and cultural orders, though, create cer- R&L: What role does religion have tain challenges for capitalism? in the formation of social capital? tually every church—Christian, Jewish, Wilson: Capitalism, narrowly defined, Wilson: All important religions require or Islamic—teaches the same funda- has, in fact, created its own opponents. you to do to others as you would have mental moral lessons. It requires the maintenance of universi- them do to you. In this way religion ex- ties and the free exchange of expertise, pands the range of human obligation R&L: Some have argued—Joseph and these, in turn, give rise to an intel- from self and family to neighbors, visi- Schumpeter, most notably—that capi- lectual class that to a great degree is hos- tors, and strangers. Without this wider talism contains the seeds of its destruc- tile to capitalism. This is the New Class sense of obligation, society can never ex- tion within its successes; in other that lives off of ideas more than practi- pand beyond the boundaries of a fam- words, that it tends to destroy the very cal affairs and that sees bourgeois soci- ily, a village, or an ethnic group. Since social capital it needs to survive. How ety—the great social creation of ethnic rivalries are the chief cause of do you respond to this claim? capitalism—as hopelessly flawed. There human discord today, it is obvious how are, of course, intellectuals who favor difficult it is for the Golden Rule to make Wilson: Joseph Schumpeter’s claim that capitalism and bourgeois society, but headway. capitalism would be destroyed by its they are usually a minority. The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Lib- RELIGION & LIBERTY erty was founded in 1990 to promote a free society charac- A Publication of the Acton Institute for terized by individual liberty and sustained by religious the Study of Religion and Liberty principles. The Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, chari- Volume 9 • Number 4 table, educational, and literary center. It is supported by donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals Publisher: Rev. Robert A. Sirico and maintains a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Editor: Gregory Dunn Letters and subscription requests should be directed to: Contributing Editors: Acton Institute, 161 Ottawa St., NW, Suite 301, Grand Rap- William B. Allen, Ph.D. Rabbi Daniel Lapin ids, MI 49503 or phone (616) 454-3080. John Attarian, Ph.D. Ronald Nash, Ph.D. The views of the authors expressed in Religion & Lib- Doug Bandow, J.D. Rev. James V. Schall, S.J. erty are not necessarily those of the Acton Institute. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Ph.D. † Herbert Schlossberg, Ph.D. © 1999 Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. 2 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 R&L: You have written, “If we wish spective of the role of religion in the orthodoxy” I mean a single, state- prosperity, we must embrace freedom, free society. Is this so? sponsored church. This inevitably and freedom means religious hetero- erodes human freedom, and reduced doxy, not religious orthodoxy, a secu- Wilson: I do not at all hold a pessimis- freedom will, in time, harm religion. lar rather than a religious state, and a tic view of religion in society, only a somewhat self-indulgent popular cul- pessimistic view of a society that em- R&L: What would you offer as an ex- ture.” This statement seems to indicate braces one church—I should say, one ample of a more optimistic view of that you hold a rather pessimistic per- sect—as its preferred one. By “religious religion’s role in the free society? Samuel Cooper (1725–1783) “As piety and virtue support the honor and happiness of every community, they are peculiarly requisite in a free government. Virtue is the spirit of a republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition. If they are impious … all is lost.” A charming conversationalist, eloquent preacher, and empathetic counselor, Samuel Cooper was pastor of the influen- tial and affluent Brattle Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1746 to his death. In this capacity, he was one of the chief, albeit behind-the-scenes, intellectual proponents of the American Revolution in that city. He was the pastor of patriots John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and John Adams; an intimate friend of Samuel Adams and James Otis; and a regular correspondent with Ben- jamin Frankin. Cooper, as an ordained Christian minister, could be without reservation a partisan for American independence because he saw no fundamental conflict between liberal political principles and biblical principles.

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