Guilt Economics

Abstract

The paper investigates the effects of the recent pandemic on individual and collective behavior, and their implications for the functioning and effectiveness of socio-economic evolution. These effects are not treated as separate and self-existent, but in the context of the overall, historical civilizing process, according to the relevant position of Norbert Elias, i.e., as part of a long course of distancing from physical behavior, to serve the balance of a society with more extensive and intense inter-personal and -institutional relationships. In combination, the importance of rapid technological development, which among other things reduces the cost of control, is explored and the importance of the concept of ‘individual responsibility' and ‘socio-economic guilt' is highlighted. Following, in the last part the authors analyze not only the challenges and the risks, but also the opportunities that arise from the current phase of the civilizing process for social justice and economic sustainability.