Why Culture Matters

On the ideological right (broadly defined), there is a tension between economic right  (ER) and cultural right (CR). ERs insist that focus of politics and policy should only be economics, and cultural issues are either distraction in practice or outside the domain of government in theory. 

This position has roots in materialistic view of society. This view posits that aim and basis of human society is acquisition of material goods for sensual pleasure. Further, ER argues, this can be best achieved if human society is arranged on basis of voluntary materialistic transactions. 

CR contests both the premises. CR insists that aim of human society must be located in human nature, and to reduce human nature only to material and sensual is a mistake, which neglects commitarian, ethical and spirtual dimensions of human nature. 

Even more important, material goods being scarce, framing society solely in terms of material pursuit, sets, in economic parlance, a zero sum game, which is unstable on its own. For stability, zero sum game need external scaffolding, which is provided by cultural norms.

Therefore, either premises of Economic rights are flawed, and cultural issues must be assigned priority in politics and policy, along with purely economic issues.