PROUT

Capitalism

Communism / Socialism

 H U M A N   D E V E L O P M E N T

Promotes the integrated development of the full human personality.

Diverse expression of personal freedom with no clear conception of human potentiality.

Primarily concerned with the political and economic spheres of life.

FREEDOM

Grants full freedom of psychic and spiritual expression, but recognizes the need for society to place limits on individual hoarding of wealth.

Licentious freedom of expression is permitted but not a freedom from want and material insecurity.

Limited by the primacy of the interests of the state.

PRIVILEGED INTERESTS 

Gives central importance to common welfare while protecting ecological integrity.

Privileges the interests of the party and state.

Gives primacy to property rights and thus privileges the class controlling capital.

 PROGRESS

Defines progress as the increase in inner fulfilment of individuals.

Regards material development as the basis of progress.

Regards material development as the basis of progress.

 CULTURE

Sees need for culture to emerge out of regional and ethnic experience, and for these variegated expressions to instil values which empower the human psyche.

Mass culture primarily serves commercial interests. As a result, it is creative but not authentic, energetic but often destructive of higher values.

Compels culture to be consistent with state ideology.

 MOTIVATION

Strives for balance: Maximizing the efficacy of incentive while minimizing social inequality.

System of incentives motivates high productivity, but the excess of its monetary rewards wastes collective wealth, encourages greed, and disrupts social unity.

Emphasizes income equality at the expense of individual productivity.

ENVIRONMENT 

Neohumanist framework affirms the inherent, existential value of all life. Its planning system aims to create ever higher orders of balance, and therefore inherently protects biodiversity and promotes ecosystem vitality.

Lacks a clear value context for environmental protection; unsuited to sustaining environmental integrity because it emphasizes short term gain of profit or productivity and ignores long term costs of environmental degradation.

Lacks a clear value context for environmental protection; unsuited to sustaining environmental integrity because it emphasizes short term gain of profit or productivity and ignores long term costs of environmental degradation.

 PLANNING

Decentralizes planning authority to the level at which people are most aware of economic problems and potentialities, and therefore best able to plan for their common welfare.

Centralizes the major part of economic planning in the hands of huge, transnational corporations.

Planning is highly centralized and controlled by the state.

 LABOUR

Enterprise system based on worker participation in decision making and cooperative ownership of assets – conditions which increase motivation and enhance possibilities for personal fulfilment.

Workers are alienated due to lack of ownership or control of their workplace.

Workers are alienated due to lack of ownership or control of their workplace.

 ECONOMY

Seeks to increase consumer purchasing power and availability of consumer goods as the means for maintaining economic vitality and meeting people's amenity needs.

Profit motivated free market economy.

Command economy steered by production quotas; state authorities and not markets regulate prices.

PROUT

Capitalism

Communism / Socialism