The Insidious Ascetic Meme

As I discussed in Environmental Ideology and the Ascetic Meme, the Ascetic Meme is a severe form of the Frugality Meme. In this post, I’ll explore how I think it arises and the social interactions that emerge when the Ascetic Meme takes hold.

As you’ll recall, I hypothesized that the Frugality Meme has its roots in evolutionary psychology. Given the conditions present on the savanna where we evolved, it’s easy to see how this meme might creep beyond the bounds of mere frugality. In the ancestral environment, tribes were almost certainly caught in a Malthusian Trap: any significant improvement in their material standard of living would quickly be countered by an increase in their population (see Chapter 2 of Gregory Clark’s excellent Farewell to Alms for a thorough, yet accessible explanation of the Malthusian Trap) .

Therefore, except for those few at the very top of the dominance hierarchy, everyone lived close to the subsistence level. There simply wasn’t much surplus that could be saved, so it would have been difficult to save too much without literally starving. Under these conditions, the Frugality Meme didn’t require any modulation; just save whatever you can. However, in modern industrialized societies, there is plenty of surplus. Sure, saving some is great. But the marginal benefit of saving decreases as you save more. At some point, the benefit of consumption today exceeds the benefit of saving for tomorrow. However, when the Frugality Meme degenerates into the Ascetic Meme, people seem to discard any notion that consumption today is desirable. Their intertemporal utility functions are their own business of course. But people in the grip of the Ascetic Meme typically also try to enjoin others from consuming today.

I think one of the primary reasons people worry about the consumption of others is hierarchy. As most of you undoubtedly know, humans are wired for hierarchy. An interesting aspect of the Frugality Memeis that people at the top of the hierarchy seem to be exempt. There’s no clear direction of causality here. Does hierarchy override the Frugality Meme? Does hierarchy enforce the Frugliaty Meme? Does the Frugality Meme promote hierarchy? I think the answer is that we have two mutually reinforcing dynamics. Hierachy and frugality both conferred some competitive advantages to our ancestors and they became intertwined.

Obviously, those at the very top are immune from attempts to enforce frugality. They already dominate. But those angling to make it to the top can use a lack of frugality to signal their perceived higher status. If they can then defend themselves against enforcement, they consolidate that status. Those higher up the chain probably try to enforce more frugality on those lower down the chain as a way of demonstrating their dominance and capturing more of the surplus for themselves. Those at the bottom also have a reason to maintain frugality among their ranks. They want to prevent too many people from being above them in the hierarchy. Obviously, those at the bottom who don’t want to suffer an enforcement sanction from either their superiors or their peers have a strong incentive to signal their frugality somehow.

So what does this have to do with environmentalists? Quite a bit I think. Environmentalism creates a fertile ground for the Frugality Meme to transform into the Ascetic Meme. With environmentalism, there really is a problem that requires conservation. We can absolutely over consume our environmental assets. But the environment is so complex, it’s hard to rationally determine what “over consume” means. So it’s easy to recursively appeal to the Frugality Meme: The world could end unless you save! How much? A lot! Is that enough? Is the environment being degraded in any way? Yes. Are you close to starving yet? No. Then you can save more! Welcome to asceticism.

I’m not sure if my hypothesis is correct. But it explains a lot of strange behavior surrounding environmentalism. First, we have the people that want to use environmentalism as an excuse to live a primitive, subsistence life. Second, we have leaders at the top of the hierarchy who are exempt from saving even as they exhort others to. Third, we have the call for severe sanctions against those who fail to signal their willingness to save. Fourth, we have people trying to signal their environmental frugality by buying Priuses (BTW, I believe the reason the Prius outsells the Civic Hybrid is that it looks distinctive and thus sends a stronger frugality signal) and putting out lawn signs advertising how they’re buying green energy. Lastly, it explains some of my own internal dialogs where my knowledge of economics conflicts with an instinct to appear environmentally conscious.

So the next time you hear someone telling you about some grievous environmental harm and how you have to change your life to prevent it, you feel the need to impress people with your environmental consciousness, or you sneer at someone because they are doing something that appears environmentally unfriendly, ask yourself, “Did I really think that through or did the Ascetic Meme just take me for a ride?”

Next up, my thoughts on the implications of the Ascetic Meme for environmental policy.

Related posts:

1. Follow Up on the Ascetic Meme
2. Environmental Ideology and The Ascetic Meme
3. Policy Implications of the Ascetic Meme
4. Society According to Kevin: Introduction
5. Inoculating Against the Anti-Vaccine Meme