Why the Economic Empire Flourishes Despite Criticisms of Mammonism
"Money isn’t everything." "Materialism corrupts the human soul."
These are moral cries that have never once ceased throughout human history. Mammonism has always been a target of criticism, and greed has consistently been dismissed as a shameful vice. In reality, however, things flow in oddly opposite directions. "Freakonomics" or the "economics of the family"—which place even the most deeply human realms, such as love, marriage, crime, and art, onto the scales of costs and benefits—are proudly recognized as the academic mainstream, and the public is wildly enthusiastic about their audacious analyses.
Why do we condone and acknowledge these cold, seemingly shallow economic interpretations when moral criticisms are still so fiercely alive? It is not because people passionately support mammonism. Paradoxically, it is because even those who most vehemently criticize materialism act thoroughly according to economic mechanisms when faced with their own reality.
A Cold Calculator Hidden Behind Noble Words
On the surface, humans speak of sublime values like morality, love, and justice, but the moment it directly affects their own interests, they calculate costs with astonishing coldness. The first reason the territorial expansion of economics is accepted by the public is that it ruthlessly exposes this hidden hypocrisy and the raw reality of human nature.
Suppose there is someone who criticizes the shallowness of economics, saying, "Children should be raised with love; how can you calculate that in money?" Yet, when mortgage rates soar and housing costs skyrocket, even that noble individual quietly postpones or cancels their plans for childbirth.
Economics does not teach an "idealism" of how moral humans ought to be. Instead, it uses data to prove actual human behavior, essentially saying, "No matter how loudly you cry out for noble values, you ultimately act in accordance with money and costs in reality." This gives the discipline a destructive power, forcing even its critics to inwardly nod and think, ‘It sounds snobbish, but honestly, it’s true.’
The Dominant Rules of a Massive Game Called Capitalism
Like it or not, the modern society we stand upon operates under a single, massive game rule: capitalism. It is a world where everything—time, space, and even the deepest human emotions (counseling fees to treat depression, pet maintenance costs to soothe loneliness)—comes with a price tag.
In such a world, when a government drafts policies or a corporation designs strategies, sociological slogans like "Humans must be moral" unfortunately carry no weight. This is because the most intuitive and effective levers to control and change the world—such as "Will raising fines lower crime rates?" or "Will providing subsidies raise birth rates?"—are ultimately incentives (money and punishment).
Policymakers and those in power have no choice but to side with economics. It is not because they champion mammonism, but because economics is the most effective "instruction manual" for running a capitalist society.
Modern Blind Faith in the Name of "Science"
If absolute truth for past humanity was found in religion or morality, the blind faith most trusted by modern people is "science and data."
When sociology or child and family studies explain human warmth through descriptive narratives, stating that "family bonds and sibling interactions are important," economics steps in with mathematics and graphs, declaring that "the correlation between birth rates and household income is $\beta = -0.45$, which is significant at the 99% confidence level."
Modern people are easily overwhelmed by numbers that appear cold and clear, rather than by a vague and complex reality. Even if those numbers represent a superficial calculation that fails to capture the true essence of humanity, the moment the signboard reads ‘proven by data,’ both the public and academia treat it as a powerful truth.
Conclusion: Facing a Sorrowful Mirror
Voices criticizing mammonism are always right and noble. However, human behavior responds far more honestly to immediate incentives than to moral obligations.
The reason we have no choice but to acknowledge the audacious territorial expansion of economics is that the equations and theories they create are a mirror reflecting none other than our own snobbish, real-world behavior. Economics took that harsh reality, dressed it in the plausible clothing of mathematics, and because that tool was so incredibly useful, the capitalist empire willingly accepted their hubris as the mainstream. As long as hypocritical humans exist, the audacious invasion of economics will never stop.
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