Atomized individualism is promoted by Capitalism not merely as “realistic", it’s promoted by Capitalism also as natural, desirable even. People are propagandistically convinced that they are mechanically utilitarian competitors pursuing their egoistic almost as if biblically dictated interests. In what follows I will show how this (bourgeois) definition of the human subject stands as a fundamental threat to (scientific) sustainability. Building on solid research in developmental psychology, social science, evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience, I argue that we are extremely eusocial creatures who need more serious consideration in science and philosophy. It shows that capitalist individualism is socially and biologically inadequate, even harmful, while Juche-Communism is far more in keeping with humanity as constructed by evolution and neuro-development.

Capitalist individualism does not account for individuality but rather “bakes in” all this selfishness and isolation, it treats the human subject ontologically prior to and developing outside of society. As such unnatural individualism was (mistakenly so) taken from classical liberal political economy (such as Hobbes, Locke and later Smith), it is part of the ideological superstructure that rationalizes the status-quo. Marx, long ago (1857) wrote that the isolated individual is a historical aberration who is not to be found at the genesis of society, not even at the beginning of bourgeois society, but rather is what bourgeois society has wrought. Is Extreme hyper-individualism evolutionary human nature? No, as all evidence suggests otherwise.

2.1 Group Selection and Hypersociality

Today’s evolutionary biology has long moved far beyond the corrupt caricature of evolution as “selfish competition among lone wolves.” (It was not a coincidence: cooperation between ants and termites only certified the emergence of highly social “animals” like humans (2012).)

Wilson states:

“Individual selection (as opposed to group selection) is weak in many respects as an explanation of the evolution of very social behavior.”

Key evolutionary facts are that Early humans banded together to survive and hunt, and looked after and defended each other.

We also found that groups that had actual internecine cooperation had way more success than those without it.

Group selection mechanisms were moral emotions (i.e. shame, guilt, loyalty). Capitalist individualism perverts this logic of evolution by rewarding antisocial self-interest at the group’s expense through institutional means.

2.2 Kinship, Altruism and Mutual Expectations

Classical Darwinian evolutionary theory (Hamilton, Trivers) assumes about altruism that it is innate. Kin selection and reciprocal altruism are the evolutionary foundation of cooperation. This is a given.

Robert Trivers’ (1971) theory of reciprocal altruism explains long-term cooperation as predicated on the existence of a stable social environment and interdependence, not markets.

The capitalist system, by contrast repeals social continuity and forces reciprocity (if ever it takes its form at all) people to turn obligations into contracts with self-interest written all over them.

It imposes a terrain which is utterly in conflict with our evolutionarily honed proclivity towards cooperation.

3.1 The organization of the brain is structurally social.

The brain is not a neutral machine, it’s a social organ. Neuroscience shows that,Cooperation activates our default mode network, and also that the pain of social rejection is very real: there are parts of the brain that respond to rejection as if it were physical pain.

This neural topology allows the self and identity to emerge from the social network of neuron connections.

Decades of research can be distilled down into the words of Matthew Lieberman:

"Our brains are wired for connection. Social pain is genuinely painful, and the need to connect with others is fundamental, not a luxury.’ (Lieberman 2013)

Capitalist individualism, which implies an existence of isolation, competition, and uncertainty, is the direct negation of these neurological needs.

3.2 The neurochemistry of cooperation

The oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin systems are connected to mechanisms of trust, solidarity and collective action. There are several outcomes that have been consistently associated with cooperation: increased immune factors, lower levels of the stress hormone (cortisol) and greater activity in reward centers.

Chronic social stress, which is often a result of competitive hierarchies, has been found to have pathological effects that underlie depression, cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline (Sapolsky 2004).

Hence the capitalist ideal of endless competition is not only unfair but neuro-biologically harmful.

4. Anthropological Research:

Individualism is a historically abnormal phenomenon as Comparative cultural anthropology proves that extreme individualism is a (highly maladaptive, unhealthy, unnatural and frankly inappropriate) way of being human.

Christopher Boehm’s study of nomadic hunter-gatherer societies documents norms of equality, shame and community-directed punishment in early human communities that countered individual dominance (Boehm 1999).

He concludes:

“In human societies egalitarianism must be struggled for” (Boehm 1999).

Capitalism dis-embowles these tools and re-justifies the larger forms of dominance hierarchies we evolved to resist.

The Great Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Juche Idea starts with the assertion that man is a social being, and that he comes to know his true self only through collective activity, historico-material practice. Unlike the liberal collectivism, though, Juche does not abstract the individual out but enacts it through people (인민) as a living wholeness.

From a scientific perspective, Juche corresponds with human nature which emphasizes cooperation as opposed to one of the market economy, placing man in significant social positions and inspiring on an effort-led basis rather than for profit.

That fits closely with what the evolutionary and social sciences, as well as neuroscience says: humans thrive when blending in, having purpose, mutual safety.

So, Capitalist individualism is not “human nature.” It is a historically specific ideological abstraction that has been imposed on the human species, a species which naturally evolved toward cooperation, mutual reliance and collective purpose. Professions as far apart from one another as evolutionary biology, neuroscience and even anthropology today make the same case: radical individualism is not just morally dubious, it also conflicts with a scientifically settled understanding of our nature.

Juche is not anti-scientific but on the contrary it is based materially on the material, historical and social reality of human evolution and functions of the Social Brain. The evidence doesn’t merely permit collectivism, it compels it.

References

Boehm, Christopher. Hierarchy in the Forest. Harvard University Press, 1999.

Lieberman, Matthew D. Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect. Crown, 2013.

Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. 1857–58.

Sapolsky, Robert M. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. Holt, 2004.

Trivers, Robert. “The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism.” Quarterly Review of Biology 46 (1971).

Wilson, E. O.The Social Conquest of Earth. Liveright, 2012.