The problem of anxiety inherent in capitalism
Crowds of nighttime shoppers along the pedestrianized streets of Myeong-dong in the heart of Seoul (Image: iStock/fotoVoyager)
Why must capitalism lead to prosperity? Why must socialism lead to poverty? These were questions I had long before leaving North Korea.
I suspect many esteemed economists have written thoughtful answers. Capitalism is undeniably a system of abundance.
However, upon arriving in South Korea, I began to be puzzled by a different set of questions.
Why, in a society where food is abundant, do people commit suicide? Why do they tremble with anxiety?
In my humble view, we should see such problems in a society of scarcity, but reality is quite the opposite. So I can’t help but ask this question. Is a materially abundant society necessarily a stable one?
I imagine some of those reading this are married. I want to ask if after you got married you were still as popular as you used to be. I ask because I believe a capitalist society resembles the single life, while a socialist society resembles the state of marriage.
Married people are inevitably less popular than their single counterparts. (Let’s leave out those rare exceptions of people who are both wealthy and exceptionally good-looking). This is because we all understand that, through marriage, ownership of a person is now clearly assigned to the other member of the couple.
The moment a person becomes someone else’s possession, their popularity naturally wanes.
Married people understand this well as, unlike in their single days, they no longer radiate charm to the opposite sex.
What does it mean to not radiate charm? It means not spending money to impress someone.
It means not wearing stylish clothes, not driving flashy cars, not buying lovely gifts for someone you’re interested in. Thus, money is naturally saved.
Marriage generally leads to a focus on the family, and people experience the accumulation of money. In other words, from a financial perspective, marriage is a state of stability, while being single means instability.
Capitalist societies tend to be democratic, while socialist societies tend to be dictatorial. Here, democracy is like the state of being unmarried, and dictatorship is like being married.
Dictators have no need to appeal to the public. They know they’ll remain in power next year and the year after that. But in a democracy, the president serves a fixed term, and anyone hoping to be elected must showcase every bit of charm they can muster to the people.
They must present their plans and their vision for welfare. Even if these promises later prove false, that’s a problem for the future, not now.
If they have little to offer, they can resort to tearing down their opponent to make themselves look better.
Why is there political conflict? Why do gender conflicts arise? Why are societies divided? Have you ever considered that politicians might use small issues as kindling to stir up these conflicts just to gain more votes? Their political battles lead to instability in society. In South Korea now, this has become so severe that it’s even affecting marriage rates.
Let’s narrow the scope and consider the individual. In a dictatorship, nearly every personal decision is made by the state. What job to take, and what to think.
Do you assume everyone resents this and acts against it? From what I’ve experienced, while some do push back, many are actually quite content to let others make decisions for them. Not everyone is born with leadership qualities. For some, joining someone else’s plan is far less stressful than planning out their own life. Some people are just born to be followers.
I watched a documentary once when I was in North Korea. It featured a Russian woman reminiscing fondly about the old Soviet days. Even though she admitted life had become materially better, she missed the past.
I couldn’t understand her at the time. Why would she miss the days of poverty? What exactly was she longing for? Let’s delve a little deeper into that question.
Do you think North Koreans are emotionally unstable?Their worries are mostly about food.
They don’t spend time worrying about animal cruelty, environmental pollution, or things like that. But what about capitalist societies?
In material terms, capitalism is a success. Never in history have societies produced so much with so little labor. The fear of going hungry vanished long ago. So naturally, people’s worries and interests have shifted.
Take, for example, concerns about the ethical treatment of chickens or the freedom to choose one’s gender identity. These are new kinds of issues, and since we’re encountering them for the first time, they are bound to stir controversy.
Perhaps we’ll never find solid answers and will be left in ongoing confusion. But these problems simply don’t exist in North Korea. There, people experience very little job-related stress and even less from interpersonal relationships.
There’s no need to strive to get ahead of others, and therefore, no stress that comes from competition. Even if someone outperforms another, there’s no reward, so why bother?
Even if one makes a mistake at work, the consequences rarely fall squarely on the individual. So life is simple enough that a beer in the evening can melt all your worries away. Emotionally, it’s a stable life. That’s why you see so few cases of depression in North Korea.
In contrast, people in capitalist societies must make every decision themselves. What to do for a living, how to earn money, what kind of house to live in? Every day, they’re faced with choices, and that creates anxiety.
Another problem in a capitalist society is that we are surrounded by fabulous people who make us feel small. They live in amazing houses and spend in a day what we earn in a month, all on full display through social media.
How many people can just shrug that off? How many can walk their own path with confidence, unaffected by constant comparison with others? That’s why people feel anxious. Worrying becomes second nature. Some can’t even sleep at night. This anxiety pushes us to perform beyond our limits.
Take the great thinkers and artists we know of, such as Beethoven and Van Gogh. They created their masterpieces in the midst of deep personal darkness. Capitalism is, in essence, a system of survival of the fittest based on merit. To survive and get ahead in this system, people must work tirelessly. And behind that drive lies anxiety.
Ironically, the very anxiety embedded in capitalism becomes the fuel that drives it forward. Can we, then, find balance between anxiety and growth? Can we live materially abundant lives while also remaining emotionally content?
Born in Chongjin in 1990, Jang Mi was not a studious child, but under her mother’s influence, she graduated from high school and went on to university to take math and science. She worked as a wedding video editor for seven years until her defection in 2019.
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