Globally, news outlets have been focusing on one thing when concerning China: its declining population. AU News and the BBC similarly described the rollbacks of the one-child policy and the incentives provided to families, urging them to reproduce as the population steadily shrinks. The main concern of this reduction is its effect on China and the postmodern international economy. The view news outlets and commentators pose on the issue has been capitalist-centric, with little regard for the lifestyles achievable in the current climate of growing inflation. Monetary ideals overshadow the positive aspects of declining populations, an angle that the general public and media have neglected.
For years China has powered the global economic engine, supplying cheap labor in the form of surplus factory workers with the acquisition of worldwide exportation for produced goods. This decrease would firstly affect the factory worker itself and factories as a capitalistic institution, potentially raising costs for outside consumers which could shepherd exacerbation of inflation in other countries. The potential rise in labor costs has since led various companies to shift towards manufacturing operations in lower-paying countries such as Vietnam and Mexico (The New York Times). Additionally, a shrinking population would indicate a decline in spending by Chinese consumers, threatening global brands that are dependent on sales from China. Moreover, hindering the real estate sector, which accounts for a quarter of its economic output. Population growth is the key to success for countries with capitalist economies: more people indicates a more extensive labor force, consumer pool, and profit margins.
The discourse regarding the population decline is a mere extension of the discussion examining proliferating capitalist-centric arguments. As wealth distribution becomes increasingly unequal, a clear-cut divide on capitalist rhetoric and ideals has surfaced. In 2015, the wealthiest 5% of Americans owned two-thirds of the overall wealth in America, a gap that has only increased since the pandemic and rising inflation during the past two years. This model of unequal wealth distribution is reflected in other countries with capitalist economies. In China in 2019, the top 10% owned 42.4% of the national wealth, compared to the bottom 50% owning 14% (“Wealth Inequality”). Various scholars have drawn on the wealth distribution during the 1789 French Revolution as a mirror of the present wealth inequality, as exhibited in the above examples.
As institutions and corporations continue to spout pro-capitalist ideals, younger generations have created a counterculture movement rooted in Marxism and anti-capitalist theory. An example is the recent argot, Quiet Quitting (Bolino). Understood by the counterculture as Calibrated Contributing: Choosing to match the effort and time of your employers rather than overextending yourself (Detert). As inflation brings prices to unobtainable amounts, companies and policies have not put forth support for the communities that inflation has been affecting the most. Wages remain stagnant, health care goes unprovided, and breaks are curtailed with lunches reduced to “optional.”
This philosophy, in tandem with current circumstances, presents a constructive approach. A declining population affects the economy negatively but benefits communities positively. The solution for a labor pool shortage in the manufacturing industry is to raise wages. As seen in the past physician assistant shortage in the United States (Weiss). Higher-income presents factory workers in China with the opportunity for financial control over their lives further granting autonomy to create unions, strike, and apply pressure to institutions that reduce their existence down to their productivity margins (i.e. physical labor). The projected decline in consumerism allows for an introspective reclamation of already-owned items, promoting community-centered ecological values and discussing environmental policy (The New Yorker). A stunted real estate sector potentially provides more residencies for the un-homed and those financially struggling, and so on.
The outlook of the media and policymakers on China’s declining population simultaneously disregards the monetary and provisional aspects and centers around capitalism, the economy, and overarching gross domestic production. The counterculture perspective challenges the fabricated importance of capitalist ideals, instead emphasizing the positives of declining populations with indifference to economic decline. Ascertaining this movement as the most extensive threat to capitalism in centuries.