Final Report Summary - ECOFRUGAL (The Economics of Frugality Between Ancient Rome and Contemporary Western Society)
In the ECOFRUGAL project, the Researcher has investigated the relationship between the values, models of behaviour, and laws regarding “material sobriety” of ancient Roman society and conceptions of “frugality” that have emerged in the history of economic thought since the debates of the 18th century, using a comparative framework that draws on critical theory in cultural history, classical studies and economic anthropology. More specifically, the Roman discourses and practices connected with the notion of frugality have been contrasted with the theories of frugality that emerged in the advanced 20th and 21st century, which, on the assumption of the natural infiniteness, and therefore moral and social acceptability, of theoretically limitless human material wants, opposed those based on the “postulate of scarcity”.
The principal research objectives entailed (i.) a significant increase in the knowledge of the cultural codes according to which the Romans, from the archaic age to the Empire, elaborated their vocabulary and practices of frugality; because of his specific scientific expertise, the Researcher has mainly investigated the archaic phase of Rome (8th to 4th century BC), considered by both the later Romans and most modern scholars as “frugal” par excellence; (ii.) a better understanding of the relationship – in terms of both legacy and shifts – that exists between Roman ideas about material sobriety and concepts of frugality that have emerged in Western society since the birth of economic thought stricto sensu.
The Researcher has first (months 1-6) undertaken a lexicographic analysis of the most significant occurrences of the normative Roman concepts connected to frugality (esp. parsimonia, modestia, temperantia, abstinentia, frugalitas), and their opposites (esp. avaritia, luxuria, cupiditas). The goal of this first phase was to provide a chronologically and generically organized database of all the principal evidence for the socially prescribed attitudes towards material needs and desires at Rome, and their relation to contrasting, or partly-related, but non-normative, values. The research included the following key components: investigation of the role of ideas and practices of frugality in the cultural history of Rome from the archaic age to the early Empire, with the aim to contextualize and define the presence and impact of different aspects of “frugal” values in Rome (months 1–14); exploration of the principal theories, definitions of, and debates on, frugality since the beginnings of modern economic thought in the 18th century, with a particular stress on the theories that, in recent decades, have emphasized the possibility of a “return” of “ancient” frugality in post-modern society (months 15–19); comparative analysis of the different Roman definitions, and actual practices, of frugality over time with modern definitions of, and debates on, frugality (months 20–24).
The research has yielded a far more nuanced, and dynamic, image understanding of the history of frugality in Western culture. Even though it was well known that Roman society attributed a positive value to a certain idea of material sobriety, the substance of this idea, and its transformation over time, have hitherto been ill-understood. To a large extent, the ideas connected to “frugality” have served as a sort of empty vessel (little different, in this sense, from concepts such as “liberty” or “democracy” in recent times). At the watershed of early modernity, the meaning of frugality as voluntary self-restraint, which characterized the ethos of a major section of Rome’s, and later Western, aristocracies – both religious and lay – loses ground to the idea of luxury as a symbol of the emerging values of wealth intended as a mark of national prosperity connected to the technological developments of industry and trade. Nonetheless, the most prominent early modern advocates of luxury had a positive view of frugality, but in their works frugality takes on the meaning of economic thrift aimed at the accumulation of wealth. This meaning can be traced already in the Roman vocabulary and practices of frugality, where the idea of a wise management of patrimony aimed at improving the social and political standing of its owner measured on the occasion of census was favourably judged. The cultural shift that separates Roman forms of frugality from those that emerged in modern economic thought has rather to do with the characteristically modern idea that frugality should be used as a tool allowing a theoretically unlimited enrichment, capable of satisfying wants that are ideally considered as infinite. This idea wouldn’t fit in any social model in Roman history, for cultural and technological reasons. The recent trend in sociology and economic thought urging a “return to frugality” meant as an art de vivre characterized by voluntary material simplicity is in many respects grounded in the ancient reflection on the subject. At the same time this cultural trend is to be seen as a reaction – rooted in an entirely contemporary criticism – to the social habits, and practices that, being based on the idea of a “naturalness” of infinite wants (and of the necessity to satisfying as many of them as possible) have brought about dramatic damages to the ecosystem and produced social inequality, and unhappiness.
The expected results of the research are a significant increase in the collective knowledge of what has been labelled up until now as “Roman frugality”, and a better understanding of the ideas of frugality that have emerged in the economic and socio-political thought since early modernity, with a special focus on recent decades. Parts of these results have been published in scientific journals and also websites aimed at a wider audience, and others will appear soon. A major impact is expected by the publication of a monograph co-edited by the Researcher and the Supervisor where Roman frugality and its role in modern thought will be addressed systematically for the first time in the history of scholarship. The publication of the volume by Cambridge University Press will ensure an international impact of the research results. The societal implications of the results connected to the ECOFRUGAL research include a clearer understanding of the historical and cultural background of the contemporary trends in economic thought and sociology that support a “return” to frugality as the most serious and authoritative alternative to the economic policies based on the GNP growth and on consumption increase, whose harmful consequences to the environment and society are nowadays evident. A first study of the roots of contemporary frugality could, in fact, contribute to starting a new phase in the knowledge and comprehension of the “culturality” of economics, thus contributing to a Europe-based debate about sustainability in which scholars from the humanities and the social sciences are involved and which takes into account the experience of societies such as ancient Rome, in which the modern Western world claims to be rooted, but that in many respects organized the system of wants, consumption, and the economy in general in a very different way from us.
The principal research objectives entailed (i.) a significant increase in the knowledge of the cultural codes according to which the Romans, from the archaic age to the Empire, elaborated their vocabulary and practices of frugality; because of his specific scientific expertise, the Researcher has mainly investigated the archaic phase of Rome (8th to 4th century BC), considered by both the later Romans and most modern scholars as “frugal” par excellence; (ii.) a better understanding of the relationship – in terms of both legacy and shifts – that exists between Roman ideas about material sobriety and concepts of frugality that have emerged in Western society since the birth of economic thought stricto sensu.
The Researcher has first (months 1-6) undertaken a lexicographic analysis of the most significant occurrences of the normative Roman concepts connected to frugality (esp. parsimonia, modestia, temperantia, abstinentia, frugalitas), and their opposites (esp. avaritia, luxuria, cupiditas). The goal of this first phase was to provide a chronologically and generically organized database of all the principal evidence for the socially prescribed attitudes towards material needs and desires at Rome, and their relation to contrasting, or partly-related, but non-normative, values. The research included the following key components: investigation of the role of ideas and practices of frugality in the cultural history of Rome from the archaic age to the early Empire, with the aim to contextualize and define the presence and impact of different aspects of “frugal” values in Rome (months 1–14); exploration of the principal theories, definitions of, and debates on, frugality since the beginnings of modern economic thought in the 18th century, with a particular stress on the theories that, in recent decades, have emphasized the possibility of a “return” of “ancient” frugality in post-modern society (months 15–19); comparative analysis of the different Roman definitions, and actual practices, of frugality over time with modern definitions of, and debates on, frugality (months 20–24).
The research has yielded a far more nuanced, and dynamic, image understanding of the history of frugality in Western culture. Even though it was well known that Roman society attributed a positive value to a certain idea of material sobriety, the substance of this idea, and its transformation over time, have hitherto been ill-understood. To a large extent, the ideas connected to “frugality” have served as a sort of empty vessel (little different, in this sense, from concepts such as “liberty” or “democracy” in recent times). At the watershed of early modernity, the meaning of frugality as voluntary self-restraint, which characterized the ethos of a major section of Rome’s, and later Western, aristocracies – both religious and lay – loses ground to the idea of luxury as a symbol of the emerging values of wealth intended as a mark of national prosperity connected to the technological developments of industry and trade. Nonetheless, the most prominent early modern advocates of luxury had a positive view of frugality, but in their works frugality takes on the meaning of economic thrift aimed at the accumulation of wealth. This meaning can be traced already in the Roman vocabulary and practices of frugality, where the idea of a wise management of patrimony aimed at improving the social and political standing of its owner measured on the occasion of census was favourably judged. The cultural shift that separates Roman forms of frugality from those that emerged in modern economic thought has rather to do with the characteristically modern idea that frugality should be used as a tool allowing a theoretically unlimited enrichment, capable of satisfying wants that are ideally considered as infinite. This idea wouldn’t fit in any social model in Roman history, for cultural and technological reasons. The recent trend in sociology and economic thought urging a “return to frugality” meant as an art de vivre characterized by voluntary material simplicity is in many respects grounded in the ancient reflection on the subject. At the same time this cultural trend is to be seen as a reaction – rooted in an entirely contemporary criticism – to the social habits, and practices that, being based on the idea of a “naturalness” of infinite wants (and of the necessity to satisfying as many of them as possible) have brought about dramatic damages to the ecosystem and produced social inequality, and unhappiness.
The expected results of the research are a significant increase in the collective knowledge of what has been labelled up until now as “Roman frugality”, and a better understanding of the ideas of frugality that have emerged in the economic and socio-political thought since early modernity, with a special focus on recent decades. Parts of these results have been published in scientific journals and also websites aimed at a wider audience, and others will appear soon. A major impact is expected by the publication of a monograph co-edited by the Researcher and the Supervisor where Roman frugality and its role in modern thought will be addressed systematically for the first time in the history of scholarship. The publication of the volume by Cambridge University Press will ensure an international impact of the research results. The societal implications of the results connected to the ECOFRUGAL research include a clearer understanding of the historical and cultural background of the contemporary trends in economic thought and sociology that support a “return” to frugality as the most serious and authoritative alternative to the economic policies based on the GNP growth and on consumption increase, whose harmful consequences to the environment and society are nowadays evident. A first study of the roots of contemporary frugality could, in fact, contribute to starting a new phase in the knowledge and comprehension of the “culturality” of economics, thus contributing to a Europe-based debate about sustainability in which scholars from the humanities and the social sciences are involved and which takes into account the experience of societies such as ancient Rome, in which the modern Western world claims to be rooted, but that in many respects organized the system of wants, consumption, and the economy in general in a very different way from us.