Hi 16Types folks,

This is a discussion that came up whilst typing The16Types member Mrrrmaid: specifically the potential connections (or otherwise) between Fe/Socialism and Te/Capitalism. It's a very interesting discussion and I saw it hasn't been debated properly on The16Types. However, I didn't want to derail Mrrrmaid's typing thread with it, so I'll start with a short argument as to why I believe there is a connection based on those information elements and the system of values they represent in one's ego, and give my stance.

Extroverted Ethics/Feeling (Fe) - is defined on Wikisocion as "Emotional atmosphere, romanticism, cooperation, treatment, qualitative judgement of behavior, sympathy, ethical estimations of observable actions, ethics of actions. Assessing the moods and attitudes from dynamics of surroundings and the actions and choices of others, being perceptive of the "emotional atmosphere", analyzing and evaluating emotions and attitudes of others based on their currently observable reactions and actions, to express one's feelings and experiences openly and directly, to impact the emotional and social space, which can be done through expressive combination of words and gestures."

Extroverted Logic/Thinking (Te) - is defined on Wikisocion as "Efficiency, method, mechanism, knowledge, work, reason in motion, direction of activity into its most logical course of action, "logic of actions", utilitarianism, expediency, benefit. An evaluatory state of mind that directly assesses events and actions of other people from a logical PoV and openly voices those assessments, assessing and estimating productivity, efficiency, usefulness, rational sense of any given involvement venture or activity, steady and purposeful state of mind that leads to making rational actions despite the present sentiments."

My argument is a persona that values (Te), as an information element that values utilitarianism and judges productivity, will always lean towards individualism and meritocracy (the two linchpins of Classical Liberal or Conservative Capitalism), whilst a persona that values (Fe), as an information element that values group harmony and judges ethics, will always lean towards collectivism and egalitarianism (the two linchpins of Marxism/Socialism).

Whilst it is entirely possible for both (Fe) and (Te) to become pathological in their application, I would argue that out-of-control (Te) would represent a kind of brutally-cold, oppressive corporate oligarchy that cares little for human life, much like the current Chinese mixed-model governmental and social system. Meanwhile, unbridled (Fe) represents justification of the oppression of people who violate the harmony of the socialist ideal - something Stalin used to justify his purges in the 1930s ("You do not believe in my ideology, therefore you are an enemy of the state and therefore I have no qualms about sending you to the gulags").

The thought of socialism/communism coming to the West has always terrified me, especially the more informed you become about it and the more you speak to people who lived under it. Communism is group harmony taken to its pathological extreme, as Bertrand Russell, a famous classical liberal, wrote here:

“When I met Lenin, I had much less impression of a great man than I had expected; my most vivid impressions were of bigotry and Mongolian cruelty. When I put a question to him about socialism in agriculture, he explained with glee how he had incited the poorer peasants against the richer ones, ‘and they soon hanged them from the nearest tree---ha! Ha! Ha!’ His guffaw at the thought of those massacred made my blood run cold.”
P.186, Unpopular Essays, Bertrand Russell

This justification of demonising the out-group based on Marxist ideology, in this case the 'Kulak' bourgeoisie middle-class farmers of the Ukraine, is what allows someone like Lenin to dehumanise them and have no second thoughts about having them killed in the name of the so-called 'greater good'. This attitude led to socialism/communism being responsible for at least 100 million deaths around the world during the course of the 20th century alone. Many of these deaths came from starvation as the murdered Kulaks were replaced by incompetent farming cronies of the communist government (a worryingly similar situation is now happening in South Africa in the forms of land confiscation, as well).

In my opinion, this comes from an unchecked extroverted judgment system. No self-respecting (Te) valuer would have their most productive farmers murdered or executed, leading to a huge productivity loss that in turn leads to economic failure and starvation. It requires a pathological ideological system based on non-logical extroverted ethics (Fe) to justify this sort of behaviour.

Therefore, I will take the stance that nobody who values (Te) can ever consider themselves socialist/communist without having a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance. If you're a socialist and claim to value (Te), you're either mistyped, or have actually somehow managed to work out that socialism is productive and efficient, despite all the evidence being to the contrary.

NB. I personally consider myself to be socially libertarian, whilst being fiscally conservative and pro-small government. I am openly opposed to socialism and social justice in all its forms, having seen the destruction and oppression those ideologies have wrought on society, whether through communist governments of the past, or the oppressive and sometimes violent de-platforming and political correctness culture of the last 5-10 years through AntiFa or the SJWs.

You'd think we'd learn from history.