Entrepreneurs, Business and Economics: Setting the Record Straight

I've just finished reading a wonderful essay titled The Entrepreneurial Vocation written by Robert A. Sirico and published in a 30-page book form by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. 

In the essay, Sirico addresses the negative bias and skepticism--if not outright hostility--which many people hold, including and especially the clergy, towards those in the business, banking and economics professions. He further delineates why this is oftentimes an unfounded presupposition. 
In future posts, I will share his insights on how this presupposition is, in fact, a detriment to poverty alleviation. 


     "There was a time, in the not-too-distant past, when prejudice was an acceptable social posture. However, stereotypes, which typically function as shortcuts to knowledge, are today considered offensive. This is so, regardless of whether or not they elucidate a group characteristic. People ought not be judged merely by the associations they keep, without regard for their person or individual qualities. Such a tendency is objectionable to anyone with moral sensibilities.
     Despite the laudable attitude of popular culture against prejeudice of any form, there remains one group upon which an unofficial open season has been declared: entrepreneurs. One sees vivid evidence of this prejudice at nearly every turn, particularly in terms of popular forms of communication...
     On the rare occasion when opinion makers, especially moral leaders, refrain from denouncing the 'rapacious appetite' and the 'obscene and conspicuous consumption' of these capitalists, about the best that one can expect is that business people be tolerated as a necessary evil. Most news editors, novelists, film producers, and clergy assume that commerce requires a broad and complicated network of controls to serve genuine human needs. Even friends of capitalism frequently display the same attitude. Religious leaders and critics of the market often suffer from confusion in their economic and moral thinking. This can be seen, for example, in their refusal to grant any moral sanction to the entrepreneur. Thus, instead of praising the entrepreneur as a person of ideas, an economic innovator, or a provider of capital, the average priest or minister thinks of people in business as carrying extra guilt. Why? For owning, controlling, or manipulating a disproportionate percentage of 'society's' wealth.
     While entrepreneurs should not be unfairly criticized for making money, they also must not be treated as victims of unjust discrimination who deserve a special blessing. However, it is also true that their chosen profession deserves to be legitimized by their faith. The public must begin to acknowledge the value of the entrepreneurial vocation, the wise stewardship of talents, and the tangible contributions of entrepreneurs to society."
Robert A. Sirico, The Entrepreneurial Vocation