Fish Biscuit (2012)

Book Review from the May 2012 issue of the Socialist Standard

The Dharma of Capitalism by Nitesh Gor. Kogan Page. £12.99

The Dharma of Capitalism is primarily a plea for ethical behaviour in business, but it is also part of a concerted attempt to harness the forces of religiosity in the service of an ailing and discredited capitalist system.

Gor begins with the premise that 80s-style ‘greed is good’ capitalism has been discredited by the current economic crisis, and that proponents of the system must attempt to win back the “soul of capitalism” by good works and ethical behaviour. He goes on to elucidate a form of management ethics which allegedly draws on traditional Indian religious concepts. Businessmen, apparently, must aspire to achieve the Dharma (“higher purpose”) of capitalism and regulate their behaviour according to what he terms the Mode of Goodness.

Now, it has to be said that enrichissez-vous has always and will always be the spirit of capitalism, because making money is what business is all about. If you want to know, ask a successful entrepreneur like Alan Sugar rather than a failed businessman like Gor on the ruling-class dole called management consultancy. Reading a purpose into capitalism beyond gelt is seeing something which just is not there. Interestingly, Gor is co-founder of the Dharma Index, a Dow Jones guide for Hindu investors (presumably promoting makers of Bloody Big Statues and dodgy nostrums). The Muslim counterpart is the Sharia Index (buy heavy, black material, sell AK-47s). ‘Ethical’ investments yes, but money-making first and foremost.

As to hitching the capitalist buggy to the religious mule, this is by no means a new phenomenon and may well be part of the ‘reinvention’ of capitalism to remedy the growing but unfocused distaste for the system. But not in the clunky form presented here. The attempt to marry a few spurious and misapplied Hindu concepts and phrases to a fake happy-clappy version of capitalism can fool no-one. Hinduism, particularly the reformed (‘nice’) version promoted by the Mahatma, has a good press these days. The concept of Dharma, though, like much else in Hindu theology has been used to uphold the status quo, particularly the reactionary and oppressive caste system. Dharma, however, is probably most familiar to Westerners from the television series ‘Lost’. And appropriately enough the fish biscuit (a reward which doesn’t match the effort required to acquire it) is exactly how most workers experience capitalism.

Keith Scholey