Podcast Summary: Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff – “Capitalism’s Uneven Development” (February 6, 2020)

Main Theme

This episode centers on the concept of “uneven development” within capitalism—a term rooted in Marxist theory and examining capitalism’s tendency to unevenly distribute wealth and progress both within and between societies. Richard D. Wolff explores the origins, mechanisms, consequences, and possible remedies to this phenomenon, arguing that this is not a neutral nor inevitable part of economic life but rather a specific product of the capitalist system.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

What Is Uneven Development?

• Source of the Concept: Traced to Karl Marx, though similar concerns acknowledged by Aristotle, Plato, and ancient Greek thinkers.
• Core Idea: Capitalism contains within itself a built-in tendency to create wealth and development unequally, enriching certain groups, regions, or nations, while others are left behind or made worse off.
• Historical Context: Human societies, even ancient ones, recognized the dangers of deep inequality for social cohesion and stability.

“Built into capitalism as a system is a tendency to develop the world unevenly, to make some parts rich and others poor, and not to fix that problem— in fact, to make it worse over time.” (Wolff, 01:10)

Real-World Examples of Uneven Development

• Global Wealth Inequality:

  • Oxfam statistic: 162 richest individuals own more than half the world’s population (over 3.5 billion people).

    “That is uneven development taken to an extreme.” (Wolff, 06:01)

  • Resulting effects: shorter lifespans, curable diseases go untreated, food insecurity (hunger), widespread resentment.

• Regional Disparities in the U.S. and Worldwide:

  • U.S. coasts vs. interior; developed vs. underdeveloped regions.
  • Specific example: Maine’s prosperous coastal areas vs. struggling interior.
  • International: North vs. South Italy, Paris vs. rest of France, Eastern vs. Western Europe, colonizer nations (Western Europe, North America, Japan) vs. colonized regions (Asia, Africa, Latin America).

• Detroit’s Rise and Fall:

  • Detroit’s boom due to the auto industry (1930s–1980s); decline after capital shifted production to cheaper regions.
  • “In 1970, 75, we’re talking about Detroit as a city of 2 million people. Today, Detroit has less than 700,000.” (Wolff, 17:58)
  • Contrasts with regions like New England (former textile hub) now full of abandoned factories.

The Mechanism: How Capitalism Produces Unevenness

• Profit Motive: Capital flows to areas where capitalists see the highest returns, often leading to regions being built up or abandoned according to economic interests, not social needs or balance.

• Self-Perpetuation: Wealth begets more wealth and poverty becomes entrenched—a cycle reinforced across generations.

  “Those who are wealthy may try to keep the wealth and use the wealth to get more wealth, whereas those who have no wealth therefore are suffering as we… and here we go again.” (Wolff, 41:04)

• Consequence for Consciousness:

  • Many accept these inequalities as ‘natural’ or inevitable, fostering a mentality where betterment for some is assumed to come at the expense of others.
  • Used politically to divide societies and breed fear, especially in debates about immigration.

    “If we believe, having adjusted to capitalism, that the only way poor people… can be lifted up is if we are pushed down, then we might be open to being told, ‘you got to keep them out, you got to push them back.’” (Wolff, 27:12)

Social & Political Consequences

• Social Cohesion at Risk:

  • Vast inequalities breed resentment, envy, and social conflict (internally and among nations), historically a cause of warfare and unrest.

• Temporary Interventions:

  • Example: The New Deal during the Great Depression temporarily balanced wealth, but imbalances returned once the crisis passed.
  • “For a while, the imbalance in the United States… was narrowed. But… by 1945, you already resumed normal capitalism.” (Wolff, 15:19)

• Worker Co-ops and Systemic Change:

  • Emphasizes that democratic workplaces (worker co-ops) need an environment of balanced development to succeed.

    “Worker co-ops, to survive, need to have a supportive environment. And that means balanced development.” (Wolff, 34:30)

Historical & Anthropological Lessons

• Ancient Solutions:
  • Societies have long recognized the dangers of uneven development and sometimes instituted deliberate resource redistributions (e.g., tribal reshuffling, religious Jubilees).

    “Jubilee was a way of bringing balance into an economy that was unbalanced.” (Wolff, 39:03)

• Modern Parallels:
  • Modern minimum wage laws, child labor prohibitions, and social welfare policies all represent attempts to redress the system’s natural drift towards inequity.

Proposed Alternatives & Systemic Remedies

• Moving Beyond the Profit Motive:
  • Advocates for reorienting the economy’s fundamental goals from maximizing profit to maximizing balanced development.
  • Suggests socialized or shared wealth approaches—using successful regions’ gains to uplift lagging regions (“take some of the wealth produced where it is successful and share it in order to make the other parts come up to where we all are.” – 44:36)
• Beyond Capitalism:
  • Calls for a social and political movement to replace capitalism with systems prioritizing equality and collective well-being, learning from ancient and modern interventions against persistent inequality.

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Defining Uneven Development:

  “There’s a basic idea… that a community will live better, work better… if there aren’t extreme imbalances among the people who make up the community…” (03:30)

• On the Global Scale of Inequality:

  “The 162 richest individuals in the world today own more wealth than the bottom half of the population… That is uneven development taken to an extreme.” (06:02)

• On Capitalism’s Built-In Imbalance:

  “Notice here, and this is a very key point, that capitalism, where it builds a part of the society or a part of the world up, seems necessarily to crush another part down.” (18:53)

• On the Profit Motive’s Effect:

  “The bottom line that governs decisions in enterprises cannot be profit. That’s part of what makes for imbalance.” (44:36)

• On Social Cohesion and Worker Co-ops:

  “Worker co ops, to survive, need to have a supportive environment. And that means balanced development, harmonious communities...” (34:35)

• Ancient Practices for Balance:

  “Jubilee was one of those moments where we reshuffled the resources so that nobody would continue to get richer, richer, richer, while other people got poorer, poorer, poorer.” (39:00)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:10–06:02: Definition and philosophical background of uneven development.
• 06:02–13:00: Modern evidence and statistics highlighting the extent of global wealth inequities.
• 13:00–19:40: Regional examples—U.S. coasts vs. interior, Detroit’s historical trajectory, international cases.
• 19:40–22:02: Mechanisms of capitalist uneven development; how “winners” and “losers” are made.
• 22:02–27:12: Psychological consequences—how the system trains us to accept zero-sum thinking and political exploitation.
• 27:12–34:55: Social alternatives; envisioning economies beyond pure profit-orientation, the need for broader frameworks to support worker co-ops.
• 34:55–41:58: Lessons from ancient societies, religious Jubilee, importance of social interventions.
• 41:58–End: The argument for system change, practical avenues for building more balanced societies.

Conclusion

Richard Wolff’s episode persuasively asserts that uneven development is inherent to the capitalist system, is not a law of nature, and carries serious consequences for social harmony and human potential. Invoking examples from history, anthropology, and economics, Wolff calls for a reimagining of economic priorities—eschewing the profit motive in favor of policies and systems designed to promote balance, cooperation, and shared prosperity. The episode ultimately advocates for a collective movement to move “beyond capitalism,” drawing upon both ancient wisdom and modern innovations such as worker co-operatives.