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Are free markets an oxymoron?

From Santosh On 20 June 2007 View Comments

Conformity:
“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.”
Quote from Despair.com

ConformityHumans confirm conform by nature.
Does that mean free markets are an oxymoron?
img: via Despair.com

This may seem pessimistic but it’s definitely something to ponder over.

One of the biggest things limitations about the USSR and Communism was the lack of choice of consumer goods like choice of housing, for instance. People in a certain region were forced to live in idential or nearly identical homes, for the good of the state. “Forcing people to confirm conform to a standard” strangled the competitive spirit, caused widespread resentment and the Soviet Union collapsed. Granted that was not the solitary reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union but it certainly helped speed their demise. That and Rocky bitch slapping Ivan Drago.

Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, immortalized in the ballad “Wind of Change” by the German group, The Scorpions, walk around any neighbourhood in suburban “US and A” and what do you see? Cookie cutter homes!!! You have row upon row of homes that are nearly identical – neatly manicured front lawns, 1/2/3 car garage, enclosed backyard with a deck or screened porch or even …… gasp …… a swimming pool! Is this epidemic of duplicity endemic to the US? Lets take India for instance. The flourishing middle class in India is living where? In urban areas in flats. Row upon row and floor upon floor of nearly identical looking flats. You get richer, you buy more flats or you move to a new development, a single home community, that look suspiciously like American suburban neighbourhoods with …………….. cookie cutter homes!!!

Granted the inner decor of each home may vary but what is that in your living room? Oh, the new 52″ flat screen TV, the one that looks like the one your neighbour bought last week. You get the idea.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big supporter of free markets and capitalism. My point being that humans confirm conform – either forcibly or by choice. Free markets by their very definition are markets without state intervention in the form of taxes, subsidies or regulation so the consumer is free make a choice. Turns out the freedom of choice is the freedom to confirm conform. Seems pretty self-defeating. Are we pro-free market folks even fighting for the right cause?

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  • Pooja,
    Your write :-)
    That was a mishtake of the speling.
  • What Steve said about the rebels ultimately conforming to their own standards is so true! Look at your average 'rebellious' teenager...weird hair colours, body piercings and/or tatoos etc. They end up following the same rules of conformity to such an extent that they become stereotypes of themselves. I suppose the thing is that most of us feel safer with a tried and tested formula, even the most rebellious of us.

    P.S. I think the word is 'conform'. You've used 'confirm' throughout the post. Just thought I'd point that out. Cheers!
  • Divya
    as long as conformity comes from people's own choice, it's ok. It can't be compared to the communist system.
  • Steve
    Once in a while you will find a "true rebel" but most of the time it is indeed just sets of people who conform to different standards.

    Think of the Hippies of the 1960s, all with their tie dyed shirts. They thought they were non-conformists, but the truth was that they were being just as conformist as those they criticized. It was just that they were conforming to a different standard.
  • Steve
    Once in a while you find a "true rebel" but most of the time it's just sets of people who conform to different standards.

    Think of the "hippies" of the 1960s all with their tie dye shirts. They thought they were non-conformists but the truth was that they were just as much conformists as those they were criticizing. It was just the standard was different.
  • And even for those who try to rebel against conformity, within their own circle of “rebels” most of them will conform to what their fellow rebels are like so in the end you will have a mass of “rebels” who among them look exactly the same.


    Steve, that is a profound statement. So you're basically saying that there no rebels. Just sets of people who confirm to different standards.
  • Steve
    The comment about the "Cookie Cutter" homes in suburban US and A reminds me an old song. In the 1960s a folk singer named Pete Seeger made popular a song called Little Boxes, written by a woman named Malvina Reynolds, about the proliferation of small, overly-similar homes that were springing up all over the bay area at that time.

    http://ingeb.org/songs/littlebo.html

    1. Little boxes on the hillside,
    Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
    Little boxes, little boxes,
    Little boxes, all the same.
    There's a green one and a pink one
    And a blue one and a yellow one
    And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
    And they all look just the same.

    2. And the people in the houses
    All go to the university,
    And they all get put in boxes,
    Little boxes, all the same.
    And there's doctors and there's lawyers
    And business executives,
    And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
    And they all look just the same.

    3. And they all play on the golf-course,
    And drink their Martini dry,
    And they all have pretty children,
    And the children go to school.
    And the children go to summer camp
    And then to the university,
    And they all get put in boxes
    And they all come out the same.

    4. And the boys go into business,
    And marry, and raise a family,
    And they all get put in boxes,
    Little boxes, all the same.
    There's a green one and a pink one
    And a blue one and a yellow one
    And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
    And they all look just the same.

    ---

    Kind of depressing, sure, but like you said perhaps just human nature at work. In the end most of us are conformists although we like to choose to conform and not be forced to conform.

    Where I live they have cleared away whole hillsides, and in their place put up rather expensive homes. All the homes have the same amount of yard, same basic designs. Looking back it is always been that way I guess in my lifetime though with zoning codes, and big time developers, it even seems like it is more that way now. It seems like you have to go to homes built before 1950 to get any home on property that is unique in size or design.

    ---

    I am not complaining I guess. Like you said, although we like to think we are unique, for most of us conformity will mark our lifestyle more than uniqueness. And even for those who try to rebel against conformity, within their own circle of "rebels" most of them will conform to what their fellow rebels are like so in the end you will have a mass of "rebels" who among them look exactly the same.
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