State and Modernity

In his Guilt and Gratitude: A Study of the Origins of Contemporary Conscience (Contributions in Philosophy) (pp. 37-8) , Joseph Amato follows Karl Polanyi in noting how the introduction of markets, contract, cash, corporations “radically transformed traditional man’s fundamental conception of giving and taking.”

Adjusting to this new order left nation-states with difficult choices: “During the early and middle decades of the nineteenth century, governments preoccupied themselves with society for the first time. The requirements of national productivity forced even the most reluctant government elites to try their hand at fostering economic growth. That posed in turn, as we see in retrospect, the insoluble problems of trying to maintain social stability while stimulating economic growth, and of seeking to retain legitimacy, while either violently repressing or cautiously assimilating the new ideologies of freedom, justice, and equality. These tasks were compounded further in the second half of the nineteenth century by intensifying nationalism, militarism, and colonialism. To win the loyalties of its citizens became the essential business of government. Accordingly, it had to put itself at the center of society’s transactions. Government had to strive to become the primary source of justice, the final arbitrator of right, and the author of the most important gifts, which in this era are all the benefits associated with improved well-being.”