Aditi Memani

Section: 07EG
TA: Joel Parker
Due: April 14
th
, 2014

Analytical Essay: What is the Cost for a Good Life?

One of the most common measures to determine a societys success has
been through economic growth and stability. It has been the numerical measure
to determine the ability of a societys people to live a good life. The question
that is now facing societies all over the world is what political, social, and
environmental costs have they paid to improve their economic conditions(Fox).
Through the analysis of multiple readings and lectures of this class, especially
Dr. Melissa Lanes lecture on Sustainable Citizenship, the excerpt about Land
Ethics from the Sandy County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, and the interview by
Rebecca Skloot about the HeLa Cells; it is clear that the price societies have paid
is extremely high and are now facing serious consequences ranging from
depleting natural resources to the increase in economic, political, and social
disparity among its people. Societies need to begin analyzing other aspects
besides economic improvement, as a measure of the ability of a person to live a
good life, because otherwise these societies will become unstable and fail.
One of the major reasons having economic growth and stability as one of
the common measures of success of a society hinders people from pursuing a
good life is because it causes governing bodies within the society to not dedicate
time, effort, and resources to pursue policies that improve the social conditions,
because they are solely focused on adopting systems to increase the economic
levels of their society. For example, many nations have pursued economic
development through adopting the current system of division of labor (Lane).
Even though economically as a whole it may seem that these nations have
created an environment that will allow its people to pursue an economically better
life, this system of division of labor is able to have many negative social
implications. One example is that this system could create an oligarchy, as
illustrated in an image from Platos Republic. This would occur if one specific
group takes control over the economic gains that this system would produce. If
this happens, no longer is this system focused on improving the life of the entire
nation, but will only improve the life of the controlling group. This will create
irreparable social disparity issues due to the unequal distribution of gains, as well
as an unstable economic environment (Lane). Thus if a society would like to
create an environment where its people can pursue are a good life, it must not
only measure its success through economic development, but should also
measure how its people improve and sustain their society as a whole.
Another reason why societies cannot only use economic growth as a
measure of success is due to the negative political implications it causes. If a
society puts all its efforts towards improving its economy, it could unknowingly
take an individuals right to pursue a good life. For example the story behind the
HeLa Cells illustrate how our societys dedication to improve and grow the
medical industry, unknowingly took away the right of an individual to decide who
has access to his or her cells. A Johns Hopkinss researcher took Henrietta
Lacks cancerous cells, HeLa Cells, without her permission or her familys
permission. Lacks family believes that since her cells are still alive Henriettas
soul will never find peace. Yet since her cells gave rise to a billion dollar medical
industry, the medical community has no interest in allowing Henrietta and her
family pursue their idea of a good life (Skloot). Therefore it is important for a
society to understand the political implications of their decisions of economic
growth and measure how significant those implications are. Otherwise a societys
determination to only improve their economic success can begin to take away
basic political rights its people should have, such as pursuing their path of a good
life.
Finally one of the last reasons a society cannot simply measure its
success based on economic development is due to the negative environmental
impact of only focusing on the economy. Society must focus on improving
environmental conditions, otherwise the natural resources required for a societys
economic success will disappear and basic necessities that people need to have
any sort of life, such as clean water and air, will vanish as well. If a society only
focuses on increasing economic growth and does not see Land as more than
soil, there will be irreparable damages to the environment that can never be
repaired such as extinction of species, and or deforestation (Leopold). If people
wish to have any sort of life involving nature they must begin to change their
viewpoints of the environment and analyze their carbon footprint. They must think
of themselves as a small member of a large biotic community (Leopold). Only
then will society even have any natural resources to develop its economy and
survive as a whole.
As one can see focusing on only economic development as a measure of
success for a society has too many negative possibilities. These possibilities
could lead to outcomes that will take away individuals ability to pursue any sort of
good life at all. It is important for societies to also measure their social, political,
and environmental effects as well to maintain a holistic measure of success. If
societies do not begin to move to such a measure, as you have seen from the
examples above people within these societies will not have any option to pursue
a good life, and even the original economic success will dissipate as well. Finally
after a while the price of measuring only economic success will cause these
societies to become so unstable that they will collapse.













Work Cited:
Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic, from A Sand County Almanac and
Sketches Here and There (New York: Oxford University Press, 1948),
201-226.
Fox, Justin. "The Economics of Well-Being." Harvard Business Review. Harvard
Business Publishing, Jan. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
<http://hbr.org/2012/01/the-economics-of-well-being/ar/1>.

Interview and excerpt from Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
(New York: Crown, 2010). Available online at the
National Public Radio website at the following
address (37 minutes)
Lane, Melissa. "Sustainable Citizenship." Common Lecture for HUM2305
Spring 2014: Sustainable Citizenship. University of Florida, Gainesville,
Florida. 27 Jan. 2014. Lecture.