Prof. Franz Josef Stegmann Bethlehem Social ... - Ordo Socialis

Stegmann
Uneconomic utilisation of limited economic resources and the squandering of the economic
potential violates human solidarity or - in Christian words - breaks the commandment to love
one's neighbour. Because of that, the moral quality and value of a market economy lie
primarily in its ability to use scarce and limited economic resources to the optimum.
On the other hand, the state ought only to exert as much authority and pressure as is
absolutely necessary, and ought to give as much freedom as possible to individuals. Christian
Social Teaching more precisely: the commandment of subsidiarity, which is one of its basic
principles - demands that individuals themselves be active agents and subjects in the
economic field. The subsidiarity principle claims "that one should not withdraw from
individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise
and industry”. This would he "an injustice and a grave evil", 69 stresses the Encyclical
Quadragesimo Anno of 1931, which formulated the principle for the first time. Subsidiarity
therefore holds that those things which can be done or decided by individuals or at a lower
level of society, should not be taken over by a higher level. It demands (I repeat) that
individuals themselves he active agents in the economic field - ie, that they have the
opportunity to take the economic initiative.
They are not simply parts or functionaries of an economic collective, whether this is called
people's democracy, the state or anything else. Regarding this point, neoliberalism and
Catholic Social Teaching "are in complete agreement". 70
3.2.2 The understanding of freedom and the priority of the economy in neoliberalism needs to
be criticised
To a great extent, the neoliberal concept of freedom is just a formal one. The scope of decision
and action of the individual should be limited as little as possible. The understanding of
freedom which is oriented to the human being and his/her dignity demands, however, that free
decisions must be aligned to one's responsibility for one's neighbour and - being a Christian -
to one's responsibility to God.
A second question refers to the role of economic freedom. Without doubt, economic freedom
takes "a legitimate place in the systems of values". But economic freedom is "neither the only
nor the highest value"; it rather stands among other values such as social justice, common
good and solidarity. Sometimes freedom "might even take second place to them". 71
Another objection, connected to the previous one, refers to the neoliberal over-emphasis on
the economy. In neoliberal theory and especially in neoliberal practice, the economy de facto
is often seen and treated as equivalent to the "market forces", the market mechanism, ruled by
competition. For Christian Social Teaching the economy is a part of comprehensive societal
transactions, and economic actions have important social implications. The quality of an
economy is therefore to he measured by the extent to which it contributes to the creation of
human conditions of life for all. An abundance of economic goods and material wealth alone
is not desirable if, for example, this wealth is unjustly distributed. The objective of the economy
is not to produce an abundance of goods for some people - that is to say, for the rich - but
69 Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931). No. 79
70 Oswald von Nell‐Breuning, Neoliberalismus und katholische Soziallehre, in: Oswald von Nell‐Breuning,
Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft heute, Vol. 3, Freiburg 1960, 81‐98, 82.
71 Georg Bernhard Kripp, Wirtschaftsfreiheit und katholische Soziallehre, Zürich ‐ St' Gallen 1967, 171‐172.
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