Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2007 Spring Issue -- Book Review: The Progress Paradox

In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook claims that life has long been getting better for humanity but many of us can’t see it. If your great grandparents were here today, would they see it? Easterbrook thinks they would be “dazzled.” The telling question is; “would you trade places to go back to their world?”

Consider our progress:: Food. We have an abundance of food at affordable prices (strawberries even in March!). In today’s America, overindulgence is actually a problem for the “poor.” We spend more at restaurants than the national defense budget.; Housing. Personal ownership of huge heated (or cooled) plush homes is now commonplace. The average square footage of American homes has doubled in one generation.; Travel. Personal mobility is at it’s highest point ever. Americans took 612 million plane trips in 2002--that after 9/11. One can visit Australia, overnight.; Safety. Road travel is getting safer. 52.627 Americans died in auto accidents in 1970, compared to 42,850 in 2002 when far more cars were on the roads.; Communication. It’s global and instantaneous. We have unprecedented access to information, art, literature and people.; Peace. Four times as many people died globally in 2000 of car accidents than in any form of combat. Since then, the war on terror has heated up, but casualties are nowhere near what they were during previous wars.; Leisure. The work-week has gone from 66 hours in 1850 to about 42 today. Vacations were rare for your great grandfather. Paid vacations were unheard of. And spending 29 hours a week watching other people pretend to live (on TV) would be even harder for your grand-dad to fathom.; Education. Global adult literacy went from 47% in 1970 to 73% in 2003. SAT scores in America keep rising, along with graduation rates. The college completion rates of black Americans exceed the comparable figures for whites in most of Western Europe.; Poverty. The “poor” of the past would envy the “poor” of today.; Environment. Air and water pollution are much improved over the past.; Political freedom. Our victory in the Cold War was a profound good for the world. There are despotic hot spots, but democracy keeps creeping forward.; The economy. Inflation-adjusted per-capita incomes are rising (especially among African-Americans), purchasing power is up, unemployment has remained below 5% for years, and the standard of living keeps rising.; Minorities. Formal discrimination against minorities has seriously diminished. Women have far greater rights than before (in the West at least).; Health. Smallpox, polio, measles, rickets, lockjaw, yellow fever, typhoid, TB and more have been either defeated or greatly reduced. People recover faster today from less-invasive surgeries. Young people who used to see doctors for life-threatening ailments, today might see them for cosmetic treatments.; Longevity. Perhaps the greatest achievement of all is that the average American’s lifespan, which in 1900 was 41 (some studies claim, 47), today is 78 (66 for the world). Also, the health and lifespan gaps between the rich and poor has almost completely closed.

There are some drawbacks to consider:: Disinformation. As information flows more freely, so do falsehoods. And we are not teaching our children well to detect or oppose them.; Stress. Modernity resolves some stress but it introduces other causes for it.; Consumerism. Easterbrook sees the good side of this, but recognizes that it brings an excessive level of materialism with it, leaving our culture prone more to envy than gratitude.; Loneliness is on the rise. Claims of depression have increased ten-fold in a century. I would add that we are moving toward a spiritual void in our culture.; Litigation. Because we over-focus on grievances, we spend more of our wealth on litigation than ever.; Family erosion. Divorce rates have risen and teen pregnancies are over the top. Abortion rates shot up a generation ago but have tapered off recently.

All things considered, do you feel grateful or cynical about our times and your life in today‘s world? Easterbrook avers that too many of us are programmed for pessimism. He explores several explanations (which I have summarized in my words) for why our abundance does not often yield happiness:

1. Community loyalties are losing to individualism. Family bonds, patriotism, church identification and community values are in decline.

2. The modern emphasis on the self. Our self-esteem craze can actually add to depression. And consumerism does not help. We resist the notion of ourselves feeling indebted to others. This serves to keep us less grateful and less joyful.

3. Victimology and grievance-grinding (blaming parents or others for one‘s ills). Fund-raisers and out of power politicians thrive on your belief that the sky is falling. Easterbrook wrote, “Western culture encourages men and women to nurse grievances.” We would rather be outraged than grateful.

4. Modern fatalism. Secular messages of nihilism and meaninglessness flow freely while public messages of faith and hope are often marginalized or restricted.

5. The media focus on bad news, and we prefer to watch it. It enables us for feel somehow superior to the norm.

Easterbrook spent the last third of his book promoting “positive psychology.” His bottom line was that “you are better off being an optimist than a pessimist.” Under this model, he approved of such things as forgiveness and church attendance for the utilitarian good they do for us. They enhance health and well-being. His point stands, though it is rather weakly made. Religion for personal gain may not take deep roots.

In chapter ten, Easterbrook outlines his policy solutions. He looks to structural reform for hope rather than to any underlying moral or spiritual recovery. In this context, he even took a few cheap shots toward “American Christians” as if to disagree with his recommendations is to be uncompassionate and culpable for misery. I think structural reform is rootless without moral reform.

Still, The Progress Paradox is well worth reading. His main message not only stands, it flies! A positive outlook is not only healthy, it’s more honest. We have to ignore an ocean of real evidence to remain ungrateful in today’s world. In a culture bent on collecting grievances, try keeping a “gratitude journal.” It can raise your joy in life, even if circumstances remain the same.

Joel Mark Solliday, B.A., M.Div., is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Northern Light Church of Christ in Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later served as a Missionary in Residence at ACU. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary. His wife Katie is a junior high school teacher.