Cause and Effect

It makes me sad when someone like Elfriede Jelinek wins a major award such as the Nobel Prize for literature. She is known as being anti-right (which I don't think is always a bad thing in Austria), formerly communist (who in Europe of that age isn't), viscerally against contemporary society (I was too in the late 1970's), and an admitted sufferer of a social phobia.

What makes me sad is wondering whether it is her social phobia that informs her political views or whether her political views led to the social phobia ... perhaps neither ... maybe both.

As an economist, this bothers me because the ascendent economic system is one in which trust of strangers is a critical feature, and a vastly underrated necessity at that. We live in a society that has progressed so far that exchange with strangers is considerably more common (and essential) than trade with those we know - even in Jelinek's native Austria, where the public transportation systems have run largely on the honor system for years.

Someone with a social phobia would find that whole system fundamentally threatening. Alternatively, the aversion of someone who found this system threatening could lead to a social phobia.

There's even a prisoner's dilemna aspect to this. Games like this between identical players are characterized by two equlibrium, one good and one bad. If the choice is to engage with strangers or not, two players with social phobias would end up at an equilibrium where they would be unable to engage with each other, and presumably critical of the system which put them in that position - which is a pretty good description of the bad equilibrium. Alternatively, someone who thinks the system is unjust might choose a strategy of not engaging with others, in which case it is optimal to choose playing partners who feel the same way - again a bad equilbrium.

This saddens me, but I don't know what to do about it. Maybe I just suffer from a social "philia" and don't know it.

Comments

[Michael Stastny]

SIR - The same Jelinek who says "I am not mentally able to withstand that. I have a social phobia and cannot stand these large crowds of people," has never hesitated to offer her pathologial political views to the wider public (I remember some statements of her in newspapers and on radio but I am pretty sure that she also appeared on TV). Yes, she definitely took "pleasure in dragging Austria through the mud". Jörg Haider was definitely a pain in the ass but his influence was exaggerated by the international media. Romano Prodi said in 2000 that "the sanctions imposed on Austria for allowing the far-right Freedom party to join its coalition government were an error of judgment and should be swiftly lifted." (On should also note that the sanctions were mainly "organized" by members of the Austrian [sic!] socialist party).

As somebody who is directly exposed to Austrian politics I am convinced that the dramatic rise of the Freedom party was mainly caused by the socialist party. They kept saying that (at least) Freedom party voters are racist and many didn't find that funny any longer (BTW, according to Austrian chancellor W. Schüssel "There was no country which had absorbed more refugees than Austria and only Luxembourg had successfully integrated a higher proportion of foreigners into its society.")

When saying "being anti-right is not always a bad thing in Austria" please keep in mind that the Freedom party has lost almost all of its power, that Austria treats its immigrants quite well and that the average Austrian (somebody who thinks that buying a flag of your own country and putting it in your own front yard is not only racist but also a sign of stupidity (I am not sure about the former)) would love to see flip-flop Jörg Haider rather dead than alive (he still sometimes pops up on television).

Greetz from Vienna,
Mahalanobis

[Dave Tufte]

I am so glad that Michael from the excellent blog Mahalonobis decided to comment on this. He is an economist from Vienna (i.e., an Austrian economist, althought I'm not sure if he's that kind of Austrian economist).

Anyway, he can offer a much sharper opinion on all this than I can. And if anything ... it looks like he doesn't think I made my point strongly enough.