The problem of social change in a free market

• #capitalism
• #charity

Many argue that social change and charity should be the responsibility of the free market and voluntary action rather than reform of laws, political systems and public/shared resources and infrastructure. The problem of doing it this way is that those in a free market that have the resources to make or promote those changes are the ones who benefitted most from it working the way it already works. And so the motivation is low to actually change anything that would likely work against their continued benefit.

These elites believe and promote the idea that social change should be pursued principally through the free market and voluntary action, not public life and the law and the reform of the systems that people share in common; that it should be supervised by the winners of capitalism and their allies, and not be antagonistic to their needs; and that the biggest beneficiaries of the status quo should play a leading role in the status quo’s reform.

Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All