ANÁLISIS EXTERNO O AUDITORÍA EXTERNA

gmestlom of ppiee Is erueisl to tbs uBdspstandlng end j?esolutio0 of q«p ©coaoisle aiffieulfcise. Isclastej

oseds to teio® whetbey lower pploee are eoonomloally possible in & situation where oertalo deajaads are made for wa^a,

worlcitsg eoBdltlons and the aoRBnmer'B eapieltj to bay. “ft’ioe therefore rals©® the main eonfllot of lotereata— that between aiaplc?y©i»s and ©mplofees a-nd batween produsers

as a whole and the oonaumlng publlo generally.

As the t it le Ixnplles# the Just Price an attempt

on the part of medieval O h rlatlan lty to apply i^rinoiplee of ju atlee In the determination of p rice, The phrase Its e lf IB fir s t uBod by S t. Augustine but I t doee not beom^e a

B lgnlfloant oonoept u n til the Middle Agee and Its eoneequent development of buelneBs and learning. I t was an endeavor on the part of the C raft and Merchant Guilds# Gcmpanlee# c iv il au tho rities and the Church to determine a reasonable wage and a fa ir p rice. I t was a community judgmnt baaed upon u tility # q u ality and supply of goods# the value of money# and the oosts of production and d is trib u tio n .

Dement meognl^es the d iffic u lty o f applying medieval standards In a society that is ra d ic a lly d iffe re n t. During the Middle Ages agrlcultm ^ was dominant and the pi^oblem waB m aterial scarcity. Our society la In d u strial and the problem

a surplus of goods. Domant observes four prlnolples that oharaoterlse and oontrast the medieval Just l^lce attitu d e with our modem eoooomlo vleim ;

(1) whole theory and leg islatio n oonoernlng

the Jhet Price shows th at the Middle Agee were Interested prim arily In the human eoonomio re a litie s of production and consumption# and the commodities in which th e ir re« latlons were determined.

(2) % e cecond aenumptlon concerns the m dieval

meaning of value. The conception of value as something objective did not ru le out e ith e r a measure of the labour which produced an a rtic le or the u tility which i t

poBceceed# but Included them both.

(3) The teaching on the Just Price and the prohibition of Usury botli imply th at money has only a "mediatory"

significance# that i t ie not Its e lf w ealth.

(4 ) For the medieval G hrietlan thinker the laws of

Nature did not operate d ire c tly upon economic a c tiv itie s and provide a eelf-co rrectln g mecbaniam which always in

the long run restored a sort of econmlc equilibrium .1 The Gontempwary Ineufflcleney of purchasing power ic due to the fa c t th at in tere s t payments# fo r the use of money#

are a part of production 0 0cte and therefore wages do not

fu lly represent earned im alth. Earnings are never enough to meet prices because of the coat of using money fo r production, There is# according to Dement# an a r tific ia l aoarcity of

purchasing power. I t la a vio latio n of p rin cip le three which prevents modern eoclety from applying the in e l# )ts of the

- ISl

Dawsot 08,11s upon the Chareh to ^eoognl» the

sfsholie obaraotep of' mooey end to Insist that tea eamtnunitf

%

edmlnlBtBP It as "an aoonomio tool."*’ ïb© weakness In M s thesis is that he does not tell us how soaiety ean pro@e@d to maoag© tsoaey as a tool ox* what the implioatlooa ape if It eoaM. DamsDt tends to ovep-almplify the p?obl©s and to state the solution In glowing gpnepalltlee. SuTOly tes iBteTOSt obepged on the use of money is not tee only faetox* In s?©daeiog pxpOhasing jm&p* Wbat Is tee effnot of

aeeuMulsted aspitsl in tee fow! of savings? Does not the eapttalist meogolme tee "iwtemmntal" ohapaetep of money? Is it an end In itself oi? a œeans to pcmev and a tool fox? the expstiaios of laduste.y? How waeh of a faotoî? a m taxes and tes ooBtB ef govepomeot? Demant has been iaollxjed to level his spifeleism at on© faoet of m v © ^ ©omplieated problem,

The medieval community, lo cespa’imtiv© Isolation, was a more easily «aoageable eooaomle anit. Tim Jtest Prlos (ÎO0trine called for a moderation of rewards, sot equally,

but J,a keeping with an Individual^ station In life. A rigidly stratified social struotar® with a pplnee at the top présente a ooatrasting ptoturs to ocep eoatemporayy Industelallsm, InterBatlonallsiB and pelltloal Domooraey, Dewanfe mlnimlms the politieal and eultursl allmate out of which the Just ï¥iee ©«©rged and does not eerlœsly offer a solution for the eontemporary seen©.

152

Dm)Lim CF CApiTALim.

first Holland laoturoa given in 1922 were entitled m_rn%)d_jam.m#e of .CaBttslisw and weap© delivered by R* B. Tawney. V, A. Demant m a invited to give these

[email protected] in 1949 and his title was MMglfiQ md.tb @ . m W 4 m Unremtrained économie activity In the form of Industrial capitalism reached the climax of its development during the n3.notoonth centiiry. The W e n tie th century has ultnesoed the gradual dlGap^^earance of the economic autonomy which

oharacterlmd the capltal3.Bt era, % e reaction had been going on fo3? a long time co that the rise and fall of capitalism were# In a sence# simultanooua,

The force of tWee reactions resided and still re- aides in at least three features : In tbolr response to claims of economic justice which was known to be violated by the Inhumanities of a laieee^-fal%?e economyj In the extent to which they gave the artisan section of society a promise of economic Improvement; and# what ic perhaps more significant# In a doctrine# eapeolally In

offered men an explanation of what was happening. Capitalism coon became the victim of Its own Injustleec, Any economic ayctem which ignores the bade and logltlmte needs of men will eventually lose its power. Oapitallom went on sowing the coeds of Its own destruction and Dmmnt given four main reasons for Its final demise: "The hostility It has brought on against itself; the break-up of Its own

13a

Instîltafeloïial its papasltlatu 00 th® non-eeoooisie

fouodatlons ©f soeietyi and th# dissipation of the dis** positions ahloh remeed axjd sssstaitiad it,""

'Baa g3?owtïî of ieâastjpisliem meant, a eoiap3.w.ble gpoRth in the trade union movement as one outlet for* the aortes? *s TOspoase, ïîîls developmat of power groups that etliÿlife

besoiï© aeoially ir-rssponsible led to tb® expansion of state oosferol.

# e mounting distrust c-f oapltaliem over Its ioabllltf to provide all that It promlsod led sew, lo the period of expansion, to telieve that deprivation here meant that others had too œueh» fe-n locteti to the state as the enlf means of equalising th® iaitoalanee in the dlstelbutlon of wealth»

Most of the major movemeota «hleh alter historl© situations find tbeir support lo a "faith that their alas are In the trend of a uiilversal p u r p o s e 'Bî@ ago of oapltalism was st4''©ngth@n@d. bj &%mh a faith.

A aocond axiom was the aoeeptauce of man's ©eonemio activity as the basis of bis booSæI exia'teBO©. Pî»om that premise tijere emwgBâ the prinoipl© that "fflsrtefc relations were eentml la the eoooomlo , " " What Dement observes

In the twentieth sentury le "tee move away frosa tee kind of p. 31

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P* 88

154

aîsbalane© represetsted by économie and market relations aa t w eonsfcitttfclvô p*inolpl© of soelefef, to the state ïa*iï3elpl@ as the substsnoe of eommunlty. ®jIs is a marked featur© of the great reversal whieb xm have locjsoly galled the d©03.lae of oapltallSBi,'’ '

S » ©eenomle pi’inciple is replaced by the state pï»lnolpl© S6 a rosaos of recovering a s©na© of somamnltf after the breakdown of the rasrlæt ©eoaoay. Both the East

m û the West have reBorted to the state prlsseiple but, as Damast astutely observes, tlis» Is a f«Ma?a®atal dlfferehoe,

Ib the BJOFS developed Western political tradition of the detBooraol©©, the state has beeaœo the pi'lmary sours© of soeîal sohereao©. ïîj© state has not Invaded tee spheres of culture, eraft and religlou. In the lastorn and G'stJtral European tevoluttOBS, laaiem and Gommunlam, a segment of the eoeiety overoaae the state and used it as the Inatrument for the aahtev©B3©Bt of something wore fimdammntml, “sueh as the national deatioy, or the folk anul, or the worker's

y.

revolution# or the Indepenêenoe of the West,""

In both oaaee# the "political faltbe" triumphed. In the the state baa become the %rong end and In the East it la the %mong meane.

All theae are waye lo which man la pulled from one eooentrlolty by the cord that holde him to the place of fulfilment# and beoauee he la at the a m # t i w alienated from It by eeoklng It In the eole dltmnelon of his

tïâMA# P- 90.

155

terrestrial ©xlstenoe, he goes over to aaotb©r eoe©«» trie position. Moreover, all the valtares of egoism, poser-striving, pride and self-deception, gather round this t3?ausfoï?!W.tloR and make fall use of It, Of coarse, they deelc tWmsalvea In the moral feathers pluoteed frcs» the slmple-wiaâéd doves who onlj know that th© obanga is seeking to overome the previous evil. Tlw good whieta strives against this one evil faeoonies alstaken for the original or ultimate or final hawoony of things, and

thus arise oolossal Idolatries, oppreaslons and terrible . sacrifices of pepstms for an alleged ultiœat© fulfilment." Demant asserts that the ©tat© p ‘itJOipl© Is no »or© able to serve as th® oem»nt of society than t W market p?in0ipX@.

"fto atate oao never be an object of @®otio«al attachment

>

#bioh oouM replace a man's roots In hem, property

.. y

aei^bourhoc^i sod ersft aseoolefclo».’'*'* In ao earlier perieâ, oapitalisffi took th& teuot of crlticlsw for h&vlx>g disrupted these basis ties. Kew the more powerful state in advanced eoXleotlvisti sooletlea beoomee the ‘recipient of social reseBtments men who want to be tiwateft fop wbafe they are and not fat what they m n do or deserve. Men look to

the state fop a recovery of status only to find it betmyed in a situation where they ere the pawn of political power.

Damant is further convineed that Ifestern history Is being v&VBVBBâ, It began with a séparation of the sacred and civic realms. Capitalisai ©mplassiaed tee a©eula'i?is»,fclon of Ilf© and the new political faiths have reverted to an

$ # p p . 8 9 - 9 0 .

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Identification of the W o ordere by deifying the state "îb© enemy of Gbrlstianity to-day is eofc materialism 1

. 'I

a false religion."*'

Neither the atmte prlnolple %hloh man viewed aa a oltlmn nor the market principle with man aa an économie unit can be the true principle of eoolal healing. Demant goes on to auggeat that when the state ^Inolple la uaed aa a remedy for eoonoQlo elokneea# "Wen the m a l disorder ia more effeetlvely oonoealed.""^

When the state and économie prlneiplee monopolize our attention as the only alternatives in a gw e t for

eooial health then the transcendent Ood has been replaced. "Then there is bound to arlee a oampalgrf against religion whloh eeems to the conteetanta to be el#ier smugly above the battle or silly supporting the other elde."^

huemnt^

2'Damant# E0lif%lon an 3^ ...

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VI. o m n % m D o m