Many people in our society face insecurity in one form or another, whether it be in terms of finances, food, shelter, or other factors. It’s not just those living on the margins who feel it. The drive to consume, and the pressure from advertisers to make us believe that we are not sufficient unless we buy certain products, undergo certain treatments, or travel to certain destinations, add to our difficulty in finding a sense of contentment.
But how did we get here? And what’s keeping us in this state?
In The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Astra Taylor attempts to answer those questions. Taylor draws on a number of disciplines, including history, economics, and philosophy, to examine the forces and events that have shaped the world we live in today. In this broad-ranging book, Taylor examines threats to bio-diversity, the impact of colonialism, the education system, housing insecurity, health care, insurance, personal debt, and other phenomena.
It’s difficult to put the present in context without examining the past, and Taylor obliges. She discusses the impact of the Magna Carta and its lesser-known counterpart, the Charter of the Forest. She examines the impact of enclosure and privatization, and refers to the writings of Adam Smith, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Franz Kafka, among others. Taylor discusses events or movements that have happened in other parts of the world, and notes how they have influenced policy and reality here in Canada.
One critical notion explored in The Age of Insecurity is the commons. Under England’s feudal system, the commons were forests and meadows where any member of society could graze their livestock, collect firewood or food, and so on. A movement to privatize lands and deny access to the commons benefited the wealthy. Without the opportunity to graze their livestock on common pasture-land or collect firewood and edibles from the forest, commoners now had little choice but to sell their labour. This resulted in migration from rural settings to the cities, where less-than-optimal living conditions often prevailed.
Taylor traces the evolution and impact of capitalism. She quotes John Kenneth Galbraith as writing, “The modern corporation must manufacture not only the goods but the desire for the goods it manufactures.” As Taylor notes, this means that “The challenge was persuading people to keep buying even though their closets and bellies were full.” She adds that “Dissatisfied and insecure customers, constantly churning through products, are best for corporate bottom lines.” Taylor discusses how advertising algorithms target our vulnerabilities, noting that “Insecurity has always been the currency of advertising, but today it is more explicit and extreme.” With all of these factors, physical and psychological, fostering a sense of insecurity, it is no wonder we feel it.
The pressure, Taylor states, goes beyond getting people to buy things. She argues that “The corporate sector’s war on the welfare state has brought back conditions of generalized insecurity, including an explosion of personal debt and the criminalization of poverty.”
“Ordinary Americans and Canadians are more exposed to the hazards of unemployment, disability, and old age than they were a few decades ago,” Taylor says. The future outlook isn’t cheering. A recent Global Trends report issued by the US-based National Intelligence Council predicts that “extreme weather, water misuse, sea-level rise, geoengineering, societal and government change, unequal burdens, instability, conflict, and more” might await us in the decades ahead.
Faced by these issues, the human impulse might be to draw back and defend what we have, leaving others to sink or swim. Taylor urges us to resist this urge, suggesting that instead we support systems and actions that “buoy strangers through life’s rough waters, knowing that one day we might be the ones who need rescuing.”
Despite the sometimes-heavy subject matter, The Age of Insecurity is not a gloom-fest. Taylor points out where some efforts are underway to redress wrongs, or to make things better. While Taylor admits that she does not “have a blueprint for a society in which all of our problems are forever solved,” she notes, “I can imagine a more hopeful future” in which “we could aim to build a secure and sustainable society.”
The Age of Insecurity is part of the CBC Massey Lectures Series, previous issues of which have included the works of Northrop Frye, Stephen Lewis, Lawrence Hill, Margaret Atwood, and others. The historical and philosophical background Taylor provides is illuminating, and some of her assertions challenged my own beliefs and gave me something to think about in terms of solutions.
There are, as Taylor says, no easy answers to the insecurity we might feel in modern times, whether it be worrying about whether we can pay the next month’s rent or feeling concerned about the loss of biodiversity and the threats posed by climate change. But Taylor offers some insights into how we got where we are, what’s keeping us there, and the kind of steps we might take to make things better. There are, as Taylor notes, choices to make about the kind of society we want to live in. It’s up to us to make those choices, lest someone else make them for us.
ASTRA TAYLOR is a filmmaker, writer, and political organizer, born in Winnipeg, MB, and raised in Athens, GA; she currently lives in New York. Her latest book is Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions, and her other books include the American Book Award winner The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. She regularly writes for major publications, has directed multiple documentaries, toured with the band Neutral Milk Hotel, and co-founded the Debt Collective.
- Publisher : House of Anansi Press (Sept. 5 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1487011938
- ISBN-13 : 978-1487011932
Lisa Timpf is a retired HR and communications professional who lives in Simcoe, Ontario. Her writing has appeared in New Myths, Star*Line, The Future Fire, Triangulation: Habitats, and other venues. Lisa’s speculative haibun collection, In Days to Come, is available from Hiraeth Publishing. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/.