Rawls Against Global Capitalism

Cross posted from 200-Proof Liberals

In 1998, Rawls wrote a letter to Philippe Van Parijs that includes this extraordinary passage:

One question the Europeans should ask themselves, if I may hazard a suggestion, is how far–reaching they want their union to be. It seems to me that much would be lost if the European union became a federal union like the United States. Here there is a common language of political discourse and a ready willingness to move from one state to another. Isn’t there a conflict between a large free and open market comprising all of Europe and the individual nation-states, each with its separate political and social institutions, historical memories, and forms and traditions of social policy. Surely these are [of] great value to the citizens of these countries and give meaning to their life. The large open market including all of Europe is [the] aim of the large banks and the capitalist business class whose main goal is simply larger profit. The idea of economic growth, onwards and upwards, with no specific end in sight, fits this class perfectly. If they speak about distribution, it is [al]most always in terms of trickle down. The long–term result of this — which we already have in the United States — is a civil society awash in a meaningless consumerism of some kind. I can’t believe that that is what you want. So you see that I am not happy about globalization as the banks and business class are pushing it.  

There's a lot to unpack here.  For one, consider the strikingly conservative sentiment of Rawls's remarks about national identity: "Isn’t there a conflict between a large free and open market comprising all of Europe and the individual nation-states, each with its separate political and social institutions, historical memories, and forms and traditions of social policy. Surely these are [of] great value to the citizens of these countries and give meaning to their life." Indeed, compare Rawls's language with the National Review's defense of nationalism: “People aren’t just atomistic individuals bouncing around in a free market; they are members of communities with attachments to faith, family, and civic associations that give their lives meaning. The nation is a community writ large, and it is natural for people to love it — to revere its civic rituals, history, landscape, music, art, literature, heroes, and war dead.”  

The letter also contains plenty of questionable claims about global capitalism. Rawls conceives of globalization as the "aim of the large banks and the capitalist business class whose main goal is simply larger profit," rather than an engine of raising the material living standards of those in poverty or of diversifying and enriching a nation's culture. He's also dismissive of the value of economic growth, associating it with "trickle down" economics and "meaningless consumerism" instead of poverty alleviation.  

In his later work, Rawls claimed that no form of capitalism is compatible with justice. However, one can't help but wonder whether this was at least partly due to an understanding of capitalism that emphasized its costs and neglected its benefits.