David Emanuel Andersson

Am I an Extremist? May 10, 2011

I generally like to claim that I don’t like political extremists, whether extreme left or extreme right (which to me seem almost identical in their intolerance and penchant for violence). But maybe we’re all extremists in some way or other. Anyway, that’s a relatively new belief of mine, which is loosely related to the idea that we all have some sort of (explicit or implicit) hard core that we’re not prepared to give up or question.

On the other hand, it seems as if most people combine extremism in one domain with moderation in most other parts of life. For example, I know several academics who are extreme in their conviction that education is the most important thing there is, and hence that is should always be the first priority of both people in general and the government. I also know religious people who are adamant that faith is the most important thing in life, but who are political and cultural moderates in most other domains. And it’s instructive to notice how the extreme atheist Richard Dawkins combines extremism in the religious domain with very uncontroversial middle-of-the-road political opinions. Politics and religion aside, it is also clear that some people define their lives by their unwavering belief in and support for a particular soccer club, by a passionate interest in a particular music genre, or by an intense conviction that correct grammar is absolutely essential for the good life.

Having observed all this, I started to examine if I also have extremist attributes, given that I have voted for boring centrist political parties, that I am skeptical of both religious fundamentalism and Dawkinsian atheism, like soccer in general (but no specific club), enjoy listening to a variety of musical genres, and think that good writing is enjoyable but still think that substance is more important than style.

The short answer is that I, too, am an extremist. When I teach institutional economics, I like to point out that we need to distinguish between (political and/or legal) formal institutions and (cultural, unwritten) informal ones. And my extremism is that I am not prepared to question – and believe passionately in – the essential desirability of a great deal of circulation of ideas, people, and goods. In other words, I strongly favor free expression, free emigration and immigration, and free trade. My extremism manifests itself as an inability to concede any points to people who want to restrict free speech (think flag-burning, Nazi hate speeches, and pornography), free migration (think Arizona and anti-Muslim political parties in Europe), and the free flow of consumer and capital goods (think France and labor unions).

But I realize that a desirable lack of laws and regulations is not enough. Sustainability requires that there is cultural support for the free circulation of ideas, people, and goods. And the cultural support that matters is tolerance, which is one of the reasons why I am quite enthusiastic about Richard Florida’s work on the importance of tolerance for creativity. And therefore I think that tolerance is the essential social  value, not love (which is personal), nor politeness (which is nice but can distract from honesty), nor creativity (which can be nasty if the creator is intolerant).

Fortunately, I am an optimist when it comes to the future of “free circulation” and its tolerant underpinnings. Economic development means that intolerance and isolationism become increasingly costly (since creativity and innovativeness  become more important with increases in the overall complexity of the economy). Increasing tolerance of different races and culturally similar immigrants was an important aspect  of mature industrial societies. During the post-industrial revolution that we are witnessing at present, it is clear that an increasing number of people tolerate culturally dissimilar immigrants, sexual minorities, and less conventional lifestyle choices. Hopefully all (non-violent) lifestyle choices will become tolerated by almost everyone in the mature post-industrial society of the future.