NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY

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BOURGEOIS VIRTUES FOSTER CAPITALISM; DOES CAPITALISM FOSTER BOURGEOIS VIRTUES?

By: Randall G. Holcombe

A Journal Synthesis on Management Philosophy Topics

By: Zoe Regina C. Castro

Submitted to: Dr. Joanne J. Java, CPA

Every business wants to grow and succeed. Business was created to earn profit and
prosper in its industry. When businesses grow the economy as well will grow – who do you
think benefits from it, the masses or elites? The article depicts that the bourgeois virtue is most
closely associated with capitalism. Bourgeois virtues foster economic growth and brings with it -
government growth.
For many, bourgeois virtues sound like a contradicting term. In recent years, issues like
inequality and injustice are continuously increasing in the market. Some say “Rich people
become richer and poor people become poorer” and thus accusation arise that the market
weakens values by fostering consumerism and gradually destroying societies. McCloskey
believes that bourgeois virtues is an important influence to the moral basis of economic life –
capitalism requires a particular ethical foundation to succeed. She argued that ethical values
are required to maintain economic progress – “real economies depend on real virtues”.
It is not new to us that at some point the government undermine these values.
McCloskey recognize that government projects are directed not at general betterment but
enriching special interest at the expense of the generality. Furthermore, she describes growing
government benefits the elite at the expense of the masses and also, they manipulate the
system for their benefits. Therefore, it is very clear that without virtues business practices
cannot resist dark forces and corrupting power of the society.
Virtues have actually been neglected nowadays, establishing and development of this
matter can only enhance and progress economics. As a DM-HRM student I believe that having
virtues will guide us in whatever we do, how we relate to others, how we behave and how we
handle every situation - whether it’s personal, professional or social. Virtues should be
recognized as important perceptions for individual behavior and carried into economic models
of individual conduct. Exploring their role in modern economic life, people should nurture
values whether you’re an elite or part of the mass. By then, economic system can only produce
so much for the well being of the people – all the of the stakeholder.

Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their mind cannot
change anything” – George BS.