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...se of global unity is thus due not merely to the fact that information now moves with nearinstanteity across the globe. It is also due to the electronically implemented presence of the word as sound (=-=Ong 1970-=-, pp. 99-101). As technology improves communication and makes it more accessible and as economies of scale make it more affordable, humans become even more aware of themselves as persons. Thus, the ve...

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...ural, (2) script which originates with the invention of the alphabet and alphabetic movable types, and (3) electronic. According to Ong, only high-tech cultures give rise to personalist philosophies (=-=Ong 1981-=-, p. 200). The telephone and e-mail, for instance, break through human isolation and autonomy, making human beings much more aware of others, of themselves, and of their interconnectedness to an exten...

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... view also argues that understanding consumer behavior requires more than the standard variables of family structure, income, and the like which neoclassical economists use in modeling that behavior (=-=Schor 1999-=-, p. 38). 19Sources outside economics have exposed some of the weaknesses in the basics of economic science as affirmed by mainstream economics. A Business Week/Harris Poll last year indicated that f...

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...y have probably influenced my selection and arrangement of the data) so that anyone who disagrees with my judgments can the more easily pinpoint the disagreement and substitute his own set of values (=-=Becker 1961-=-, pp. 9-10). Just as we have argued herein that individualism is a product of 17-18th century Enlightenment and for that reason is not well suited to economic affairs in the 21st century, Alfred Chand...

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...tter of semantics. Competition is the corollary to these hard core concepts and their origins lie in the 17-18 Century Enlightenment, making mainstream economists today children of the Enlightenment (=-=Waters 1988-=-, p. 114). These premises have a direct bearing on how mainstream economists understand and describe economic affairs and put forward policy recommendations. Consequently, going back to 1 The Alaw of ...

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... (4) away from the group toward the individual. The shift toward individualism is being felt across all institutions including the family, the school, the state, the church, and the armed forces (see =-=Becker 1992-=-, pp. 353-355). Culture matters in economic behavior and becomes much more visible when economic institutions are shaken by revolutionary change. Furthermore, the movement toward individualism in effe...