Rawslian Proceduralism Promotes Materialism

We live in a world where processes trump purpose and compliance eclipses meaning. This is the paradox of proceduralism: a system designed to ensure fairness by rejecting substantive values has birthed a culture where wealth accumulation becomes the only visible virtue. Here’s how proceduralism’s “neutrality” fuels rampant materialism—and why it leaves us spiritually bankrupt.

1. The Void Where Virtue Once Stood

Proceduralism strips societies of shared ethical horizons. By refusing to endorse what matters (justice, courage, creativity), it reduces morality to box-checking and success to quantifiable metrics.

• Historical contrast: Pre-modern societies elevated diverse virtues (piety in medieval Europe, valor in Sparta). Proceduralist modernity collapses them into market logic—wealth as the universal scorecard6.

• Materialism’s rise: When meaning is proceduralized, materialism flourishes. If no higher good exists, acquiring goods becomes the default pursuit. As philosopher John McMurtry notes, proceduralism reduces values to “self-maximizing choice” divorced from collective flourishing6.

2. The Bureaucratization of Desire

Proceduralism doesn’t eliminate ethics—it commodifies them.

• Legal systems: Judges bound by strict procedural rules often prioritize process over truth ([PDF]4). This mirrors capitalism’s focus on profit over purpose.

• Neoliberal calculus: Institutions now operate via “biofinancialized” metrics (credit scores, productivity stats) that reduce human worth to data points3.

The result? A society where having replaces being.

3. The Materialist Feedback Loop

Proceduralism and materialism reinforce each other:

Proceduralism’s Trait	Materialist Consequence
Neutrality on the good	Wealth becomes proxy virtue
Rule-fetishism	Innovation stifled; compliance rewarded
Process-as-purpose	Life goals reduced to asset accumulation

Marxist theorists argue this dynamic is no accident: capitalism thrives when collective purpose is fragmented into individual transactions25.

4. Escaping the Trap

To counter proceduralism’s materialist drift, we must:

A. Reclaim Substantive Ethics

• Revive non-market virtues (caregiving, artistry) through policy (e.g., tax breaks for community service).

• Follow Marcuse’s call to reject “one-dimensional” existence by nurturing critical consciousness5.

B. Hack the System

• Use procedural compliance to fund radical projects (e.g., diverting corporate taxes to cooperative housing).

• Celebrate ethical rebels who subvert rules for communal good (whistleblowers, mutual aid networks).

C. Embrace “Materialist Ethics”Not all materialism is nihilistic. A dialectical materialism—à la Marx—acknowledges that meaning is built through collective labor and struggle25. The key is channeling material pursuits toward liberation, not accumulation.

Conclusion: Beyond the Shopping Cart of Souls

Proceduralism promised freedom from imposed values but delivered a cage of transactional logic. To escape, we must stop conflating neutrality with neutralization—and rebuild societies where rules serve purpose, not the other way around.

The alternative? A future where we’re all just spineless shoppers, forever filling carts with everything but meaning.