by Adam Ferenz
How has this not been confiscated by the powers that be? It is brutally honest, clear eyed and even handed, in ways we no longer get. Watching this is like a trip into a past you no longer recognize, for the world around you has so changed in the passing years. This documentary series, from the estimable Kenneth Galbraith, a renowned economist and diplomat, seeks to tell no less than the social-economic history of the modern world, and how competing systems of finance and acquisition or trade operate and compete. That he does this all with an accessible, entertaining, sometimes flip and extremely light touch, is only a small part of why this towering work remains relevant. What Galbraith managed here was a striking overview of the world over the last six centuries.
The production of the series had Galbraith write a series of essays, which were then turned into scripts for episodes and which formed the basis of the book of the same title. The series begins with an overview of modern social history, and introduction to the major economic thinkers of the past five centuries. It ends at a country estate in Vermont, with a subset of open air round tables between Galbraith and other leading public figures of the day, including Henry Kissinger, Georgy Arbatov and Edward Heath. This section was specifically for the tv series and is not present in the book. In between, we see everything from animation to re-enactments, which illustrate the issues at hand, all guided by the steady presence of host and narrator, Galbraith.
By the end of the series, you may or may not agree with its host, but you will understand his thesis, which is that while there have been successes in market systems, there is also instability, inefficiency and social inequality. Galbraith repeats his beliefs that government policies and intervention are necessary, but in a way that is more human that his contemporary, John Maynard Keynes. Indeed, Galbraith uses this exploration to argue for a “new socialism” including greater funding for the arts, conversion of some sectors to public corporations and progressive taxes to aid social network programs.
Overall, The Age of Uncertainty is a humorous introduction and examination of the major socio-economic causes and effects over the past four hundred years, with a special emphasis on western philosophies and the contrasting systems of capitalism and Marxism. At the time it aired, Margaret Thatcher found it too biased, and her odious ally in the United States, the neo-liberal economist Milton Friedman, criticized it, even being brought over to the UK to lecture against. Yet the work remains, endures and perhaps grows more relevant by the day. It is available with enough searching, online. You should really check it out for yourself.
This is, above all, an intellectual series. This is not a news magazine, or talk show, but it has many of the qualities that made those formats popular, before the likes of Hard Copy and Jerry Springer came along. This feels, at times, like investigative journalism, a think piece in the vein of Morrow, with some of his occasional dry wit. While a fifteen hour long examination of economics and social impacts may not sound like something you want to spend time with, it somehow manages to become both engrossing and downright entertaining, due to the energy and straightforward nature of Galbraith’s presentation.
Few series today, including news magazines, show as much care and intelligence, as this series does. Viewing this series today is like taking a trip back in time, when people could have civil discourse, despite great heat, and where the fear of censorship over presentation of ideas did not feel as imminent. There is something of the fabled post-World War Two sense of “hope” to this, and a genial mockery of the idea of being “certain” that simple solutions to complex answers create anything but more problems. This is a series that informs but also implores the viewer to investigate, to consider, and, perhaps to become involved in the world around them.