Replace ‘white economics’ with well-being economics
It’s time to call out the underlying values and beliefs that have come to define our global economic system — to name what is behind a “white economics” steeped in patriarchy. Together, we have the power to dismantle those rules in favour of an economic order that ensures dignity, respect and well-being for all.
In the name of “progress and civilization,” white economics took something I never knew was a part of me until my teens. I present as white and am complicit in perpetuating white power structures and benefiting from white privilege.
But my grandfather and father are Algonquin Anishinabeg of the Kitigan Zibi First Nation. My grandfather left his traditional territory to seek work to support his family. His journey involved the state- and church-sponsored erasure of his culture, language and traditions.
White economics removed so much Indigenous culture and heritage from my “native” land of Canada that my father is barely able to speak of his past, let alone his heritage. I am unsure how to reconcile my whiteness with my Indigenous heritage, or if that can ever be possible.
So, what are “white economics?” The term “economics” is defined as the way we think of the economy.
Economics is a construct created by people and informed by the experiences and qualities of their culture. So how does the mainstream way of thinking about the economy reflect only the values and beliefs of one culture? Let’s start by naming some truths about the dominant way we think of the economy today.
Mainstream economics evolved from a belief held by white culture that colonization and enslavement were legitimate economic, political and moral pursuits.
Mainstream economics amplified historical white beliefs of cultural superiority that resulted (and continue to result) in profound injustice, oppression, unfairness and violence.
Mainstream economics emerged from a deep-rooted white belief that nature is there to be conquered by one group of men, and that wealth and power arise by pillaging it as quickly as possible.
Over time, white beliefs and cultural values have been allowed and encouraged, implicitly and explicitly, to create a dominant white economics that robs people of colour and “bodies of nonwhite culture” of dignity, freedom and opportunity.
Throughout European history, an elite “super-white” minority learned and perfected methods to oppress and subjugate a white majority, with women — often referred to as chattel — taking the brunt. As that society outgrew its labour resources, it spread its sails and crossed oceans.
White economics landed in the Americas in the 16th century and Africa in the 19th, colonizing and enslaving people and intensifying the conquest of nature and its resources. Under the guise of progress and civilization, white economics continued to evolve, bestowing ever more benefits and power to a few white “kings, princes and lords,” while allowing only crumbs of wealth and power to fall to those “othered” by the system.
My decade working on sustainability issues with the United Nations provided a stage from which to witness the deep injustices amplified by white economics. It was a catalyst for my own search for ways to innovate a well-being economics based on dignity, fairness, participation and nature, designed not by a few but by the many.
Despite what seems an insurmountable obstacle to the world’s injustices, remember that economics is a human construct. It’s a code we program, a set of algorithms we decide upon.
For too long, we’ve let one small group decide which code reflects everyone’s values, desires and aspirations. With our combined voices, we can and will replace white economics with well-being economics, creating economies that serve all people and our shared home.
That transformation requires those of us who have benefited from white privilege to join the growing number of people worldwide who are calling out the inequities, oppression and violence that this white economics perpetuates.
We must demand from our leaders justice, fairness and equity for Black, Indigenous and people of colour; for women subjugated by millennia of patriarchy; for all people marginalized and diminished by an antiquated set of values and beliefs. We must demand and contribute to ending white economics so that new, generative and inclusive well-being economies can emerge.