Not all companies are viewed as equal. Some companies are addictive and so causing harm to consumers and the society. People set up businesses to meet needs and make a profit. In a capitalist economy such as what is in America, individual are the private owners of the capital. The capital is not free but is used for the principal purpose of profitability and sustainability. Industrial investments by capitalists are made to protect their interests, which is their capital and profit. The field of ethics concerns the moral obligations that people hold for one another and knowing what is right or wrong in a given circumstance. Social institutions such as the family are the ones that are most affected by specific unethical industrial practices (Courtwright, 2014). The family is the basic functional and anatomic unit of the society. Thus, when it is affected by business practices, the nation is also affected. The gambling or gaming industry is the pick for this paper. The position is that the gambling capitalists unfairly use the consumers. The effects on the family are enormous.
Capitalism is the enabler of gambling. The activities of the gambling industry are a reflection of the market forces and ethics. The industry provides the state's revenue and taxes. These revenue streams controlled by individuals are in business for profit. The states and corporate sectors maintain a dualistic role. The dual roles demonstrate that gain to the investor and revenue to the government prevails over the citizens or consumers. As it makes economic sense to the capitalists, it affects the society (Smith, 2006).
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Free trade and advancement in technology have increased cross-border movement of cultures technology, and consequently gambling. Casinos and other forms of gambling can ruin accomplishments and fortunes through their addictive nature (Young & Tyler, 2008). This vice can infiltrate the core fabric of the society, affecting the rich and poor. As the rich play the games meant for the rich, the poor play games for the poor. Thus, there are severe socioeconomic effects because of gambling. Families have lost fortunes to gambling. Some dysfunctional families are the result of gambling activities by a spouse. Gaming has contributed to the divorce rates in America. It documentations indicates that gambling has affected many workers' performance. Others have lost their jobs due to gambling addiction.
The investors have continued to strengthen their appeal to consumers through different forms of advertising. There is a multiplying effect in an industry that has the addiction potential. Essential features of capitalism dominate and control the corporate decision-making environment. Decisions have to favor the investors, especially when the government is also an investor in the gaming business. As Courtwright (2014) notes, “The industry understands this fact, and recognizes it as a huge public-relations problem and potential litigation nightmare” (p.9). It is a situation where chance and risk are commodified even when it is common knowledge that it is addictive.
Businesses are not the same because their products or services are producing the same effect or satisfaction to the consumers. It is therefore very difficult or near impossible for a business venture that understands its risks to the society to balance its interest with that of the consumer. However, the typical strategy is to create activities that suggest that they take the interest of the consumer into consideration. That approach underlies the fact that the profit and revenue outweigh the concern they have for the consumer (Young & Tyler, 2008). The interests of the investors will usually prevail against that of the consumer for the investor to stay in business. Under capitalist economic environment businesses with products that affect people and families generally, pursue sustainability.
Thus, industries with harmful and addictive products do exhibit ethical values that are utilitarian. The utilitarian moral concept considers the good of the majority rather than the few. However, in a capitalist economy like the American, individual investors can make their profit at the expense of the consumers. Gaming or gambling is affecting families and the workplace.
References
David T. Courtwright, D.T. (2014). Learning from Las Vegas: Gambling, Technology, Capitalism, and Addiction. Occasional Paper Series 26 . Las Vegas: Center for Gaming Research, University Libraries. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1024&context=ahis_facpub
Smith, G. J. (2006). Gambling Expansion and the Erosion of Community Well-being.
Transition 36 (3): 3–5.
Young, M., & Tyler, W. (2008). Mediating Markets: Gambling Venues, Communities and Social Harm. Gambling Research 20 (1): 50–65.
