The economic determinist
cannot tell.
A man's various economic contacts limit or enlarge the range of his
opinions. But which of the contacts, in what guise, on what theory,
the materialistic conception of politics cannot predict. It can
predict, with a high degree of probability, that if a man owns a
factory, his ownership will figure in those opinions which seem to
have some bearing on that factory. But how the function of being an
owner will figure, no economic determinist as such, can tell you.
There is no fixed set of opinions on any question that go with being
the owner of a factory, no views on labor, on property, on management,
let alone views on less immediate matters. The determinist can predict
that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the owner will resist
attempts to deprive him of ownership, or that he will favor
legislation which he thinks will increase his profits. But since there
is no magic in ownership which enables a business man to know what
laws will make him prosper, there is no chain of cause and effect
described in economic materialism which enables anyone to prophesy
whether the owner will take a long view or a short one, a competitive
or a cooperative.
Did the theory have the validity which is so often claimed for it, it
would enable us to prophesy. We could analyze the economic interests
of a people, and deduce what the people was bound to do.
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