Christopher Dawson: Wealth & Happiness
on Monday, September 18, 2017Christopher Dawson Money Quote saying we’ve allowed the equivalency of wealth & happiness to dominate our democratic society and guide policy decisions. Christopher Dawson said:
“The great fault of modern democracy — a fault that is common to the capitalist and the socialist — is that it accepts economic wealth as the end of society and the standard of personal happiness” — Christoper Dawson
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In this quote, Christopher Dawson is criticizing how modern democracies, whether capitalist or socialist in orientation, define national success and personal fulfillment primarily according to economic outputs and standards of living.
By stating democracy accepts “economic wealth as the end of society and the standard of personal happiness”, Dawson implies this outlook reduces prosperity to narrow material terms rather than recognizing non-monetary sources of meaning. He suggests viewing wealth maximization and consumption as life’s sole purpose impoverishes society’s deeper aims and individuals’ capacity for fulfillment.
The overall interpretation is that Dawson believes democracies fall short by prioritizing accumulation of money, goods and services over less tangible yet profoundly important goals for communities and citizens alike – such as cultivating justice, wisdom, compassion, civic virtue, strong social bonds, spiritual well-being and human flourishing in all its forms. Dawson’s perspective conveys that truly progressive societies nourish people’s full humanity, not just their bank accounts or consumption habits.
Birthday: October 12, 1889 – Death: May 25, 1970