Much has already been written about the history and nature of Capitalism. But since Capitalism is a fecundating phenomenon we must keep a vigilant eye out to spot its manifest and latent consequences. One of those latent, unintended consequences is stress! Of course from a conspiracy perspective we could debate whether or not stress is an intended or unintended consequence of Capitalism, but that would be tangential to this particular discussion. I am not an economist or a mathematician, but it seem you don't have to be either to figure out the relationship between Capitalism and Stress.

We probably all learned the same general definition of the Capitalist Economic System. Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods. It is characterized by a free competitive market and motivation for profit. Capitalism changes shape depending upon the degree to which it truly operates as a free competitive market with limited government oversight or interference. But regardless of the many faces Capitalism may wear, some things remain true about its nature. Capitalism must do three things in order to survive. It must continue to create new products, it must continue to create new markets for those products, and it must maintain access to the material, technological, and human resources necessary to feed the system. These must be accomplished with a degree of rhythm. Of course there is subtext to these survival mandates. The need to continuously create new products has the subtext of planned obsolescence, science, invention, innovation, McDonaldization, psychology, sociology, and more. And the need to continuously create new markets has the subtext of advertising, media, persuasion, international treaties, globalization, and the need to maintain access to the necessary resources has the subtext of New World Order, regime change, war, genocide, and a host of other necessary ingredients to accomplish the mandates. So on the global scale one of the latent consequences of Capitalism is international and cultural tension as Capitalist systems attempt to meet their resource and market mandates. Like tectonic plates pressing against each other, Capitalism necessarily pushes against other cultural systems with unrelenting persistence. And as a result, international stress escalates.

These survival mandates and latent consequences of Capitalism are not only active on the system-wide or macro level, but they also have their influence on the individual or micro level. Individual businesses and the individuals within those businesses must also meet these three mandates. They must continue to be creative, innovative, and imaginative in order to relentlessly remake themselves into whatever the markets demand at the moment. They must continue to open up new avenues of opportunity to sell themselves as vital assets to prospective employers or essential service providers, or to prospective customers and clients. And many workers (if not most) believe they have to compete (even if it means rumor and sabotage, and cost to your organization) with other employees for the limited resources necessary to sustain their survival in the system. Since Capitalism by its very nature requires that all members of the global society eventually be involved in its enterprise, shifts in population, workforce demands, technology, political climate, or even weather can push the system off balance, out of rhythm. Since there is a constant shift in the above mentioned conditions, Capitalism will inevitable create stress. There is stress, and then there is STRESS! (Good time to reread Got Stress?)

To be continued!

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