Book Review: 'The Efficient Society' a recommended read

Title: The Efficient Society: Why Canada Is as Close to Utopia as It Gets

Author: Joseph Heath

Publisher: Penguin

Reviewer: Earl McKenzie, PhD

With the collapse of communism and the apparent victory of capitalism, many have been asking: Is there a third way? Joseph Heath, a Canadian philosopher, argues that there is - the creation of an efficient society, one without ideological hang-ups about government or the market.

He traces the development of the efficiency movement in the United States from its application mainly to the performance of machines, to the desire to make workers in factories or on farms more efficient. He takes the story from Frederick Winslow Taylor, a mechanical engineer who used to walk around the shop floor with his stopwatch, measuring the speed of tasks accomplished; to Frank Gilbreth's 'motion studies' aimed at reducing the number of discreet movements required to perform some tasks; and the more humanistic attempts of Harrington Emerson to apply the concept to social ideals; and to Vilfredo Pareto's success and influence in taking it over to the field of economic theory. Its origin in the world of machines continues to haunt the concept, especially in the minds of those who regard a preoccupation with efficiency as dehumanising.

Heath argues that for society to become or remain efficient, efficiency has to be one of its core cultural values. Yet the idea of efficiency as a value is problematic for some who see the notion of having a value as "inherently unscientific, irrational or subjective" (8), and who, therefore, tend to see efficiency as a scientific or technological term, rather than as an important one in value theory. I think he makes a good case that, historically, efficiency is increasingly being seen as a social value.

Quality of life

Canada is his example of an efficient society. He points out that the United Nations Human Development Index frequently names it as the country with the highest quality of life on earth. He argues that it has not achieved this status because it is richer than other countries, more endowed with natural resources, or more justly ordered. Other countries can claim to be better endowed than Canada in these respects. The critical difference, he argues, is the greater emphasis which Canadians place on efficiency. He cites health care as an example: "In 1995, the Canadian government spent approximately 6.9 per cent of the Canadian GDP (gross domestic product) on health care. With that money, it provided health services to all Canadians. In the same year, the American government spent 6.6 per cent of the American GDP on health care. With that money, it provided health services to less than 30 per cent of Americans." (x11). He argues that this demonstration of superior efficiency is due largely to the fact that in Canada there is less doctrinaire attachment to both government and the market; they allow each to do what it does best, and they believe that government (by providing universal health insurance) is a more efficient way of providing health services for all.

After my first reading of the book, I felt he could have done more to try to establish the truth of his claim about Canada. A second reading suggests that his commitment to the efficient society is stronger than his desire to show that Canada is a paradigm case of one. Indeed, the example of Canada is little more than an advertisement for his theory. A core part of his belief is that the efficient society can be achieved by paying close attention to details.

Painting big beautiful pictures of society is the business of utopians or 'perfectionist' philosophers. Believers in the efficiency approach are more interested in taking care of the nuts and bolts. So, instead of concentrating on a doing a big PR job for Canada, he concentrates on what analytic philosophers, such as himself, can be expected to do best: offer detailed analyses of some of the trouble spots in society which are likely to challenge the efficiency advocate. These include topics such as conceptual analysis of the concept of efficiency itself, perverse social and economic outcomes, morality and the economy, the nature of the market and its failures, big business, inequality, efficiency in the home, and the relations between shopping and social efficiency.

Heath's analyses are informed by the writings of the major social and political philosophers, especially those from the contractarian tradition such as Hobbes, Locke and Rawls, who regard society as an entity which resembles a voluntary association more than as a product of raw power and suppression. His chief method is to show how the ideas of these philosophers, and the techniques of a philosophical puzzle known as the 'prisoner's dilemma', can often shed light on knotty procedural issues in the running of society.

Philosophical reasonings

Heath is as likely to move from a discussion of traffic congestion to the thoughts of a philosopher, as from a philosopher to the causes of a market failure. He is drawn to the contractarian philosophers because he believes that their emphasis of the importance of the consent of the citizen, whether in relation to government or in his or her relationship with fellow citizens, is one which is more likely to enhance social efficiency. He contrasts contractarian philosophers with what he calls 'perfectionist' ones who draw up lists of virtues and vices, or commandments and thou-shalt -nots, out of thin air, and then arbitrarily prescribe rewards for those who exhibit the virtues, and punishments for those who engage in the vices. Heath is skeptical that this approach is more likely to lead to efficiency in society.

In a country in which simple social procedures like paying taxes or renewing a passport can turn into nightmares, it is easy to conclude that if Canada is an example of an efficient society, then Jamaica is clearly an example of an inefficient one. Perhaps, the kind of detailed social analysis which Heath offers could be an inspiration for all, including citizens, scholars, and politicians who believe or hope that this could be a more efficient society. I recommend this book to Jamaican or Caribbean readers.