Capitalism’s Golden Child
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Capitalism’s Golden Child
By: Vaishnavi Ganpule
S.Y B.Sc. 2022-25
Estimated reading time: 5-6 minutes.
Are you depressed? Well don’t be!
Still not convinced?
Well, there’s a $38 billion industry solely devoted to helping you fix yourself. Pretty sure at some point of time your algorithm has lured you into the fascinating world of self-help- where all, yes all your problems can be fixed in five simple steps. The first of those being magically stop procrastinating and go for a 10 km run : )
I may exaggerate, however, there’s no smoke without fire. The self-improvement culture encompasses physical, mental and intellectual development. It places responsibility on the individual to utilise all resources at their disposal to live a more fulfilling life. Some common goals for self-improvement include emotional maturity, financial stability, skill development, healthier lifestyle, enhanced productivity, and fostering social and personal relationships. While the essence of this self-help culture is laudable, it is riddled with issues.
The present self-help culture, rooted in free market capitalism, dates back to 19th century Britain. The movement ensnared the aspirational middle class. The notion of self-sufficiency and skill development was poised as necessary conditions for improving the community and country as a whole. Through self-help, the middle class adjusted their interests, mannerisms and values to reflect those of the aristocracy.
Today, the self-help industry includes self-anointed life coaches, podcasts, books, videos, seminars, and self-care products to help people find their inner peace. Is it really inner peace though? A quick glance through the self-help goals shows us that it is geared towards making people efficient workers by pushing them deeper into the rabbit hole of consumerism. People don’t choose their own path to self-improvement, rather, the industry offers them pre-packaged solutions and products to help them ‘unlock their true potential’. It is up to the consumer to decide upon the credibility of these solutions, and it doesn’t really take a doctorate to advocate for them. The futility of self-improvement stems from the fact that one works towards becoming an efficient stooge for the market, not a self-actualised individual.
The first obvious step after adopting self-help is to set goals. However, there’s a constant pressure to reach the idealistic handpicked goals. So much so that it’s a sin to just be. Any form of rest or idleness is viewed as wasteful and causes panic. Thus, the self-helper is in a constant state of FOMO.
Self-help is often a manifestation of avoidance. The goals of self-improvement only treat the symptoms instead of delving into the root of the problem. Anxiety, procrastination and depression can all be moderated through good diet and exercise. However, it rarely solves the issue as these symptoms substantiate an involuted web of problems usually stemming from childhood experiences.
Individualism is the first tenet of self-help, a flagrant flaw that ignores the implications of one’s position in society. The belief that individual action is enough to defy the pervasive inequality that plagues society is at best naive. At its worst, people can get burnt out from the helplessness as there’s only so much one can do to change their socially and systematically defined situations. To make matters worse, social media, our favourite respite, bombards consumers with spiels of fraudulent successes.
The question remains however, how does one define ‘improvement’. Greater productivity is a weak indicator of well-being as even mentally unhealthy people can be productive. Through the process of self-improvement, you get capitalism’s golden child. A self-centered person devoid of a meaningful social presence and an efficient worker that doesn’t complain about workload because, well, hustle culture!
In the end, it seems to be a classic case of expectations vs reality, a trope economics students know all too well. Self-help guidance exists in a vacuum and the model is incapable of being replicated in real life. To be able to realise the importance of personal responsibility in changing one’s outlook is the first crucial step to a better life. There isn’t a universal solution to the crippling epidemic of lacking perfection. However, there are methods to manage one’s imperfections and engage with society and oneself more capably. Methods that don’t play into capitalism’s ruse.