We are today surrounded by an abundance of productivity that the market does not recognize or value. In this consumer society, we think about “work” as what people do to pay for goods and services in the marketplace. If our work doesn’t earn money, it’s not counted as an economic asset. The power of the market is so strong that we often don’t recognize or value work that is essential to society’s future. The unpaid contributions of homemaking, parenting, volunteering, care giving and citizenship are not valued or nor appreciated.
Americans (and many others in the modern world) have internalized a limited definition of work defined exclusively as employment in the market economy. As a result, we have discarded the real and potential productivity of young people and retirees—and everyone else who is outside of the paid workforce.
Todd Suomela on 26 Jun 08it means not only a radically different structure of the economy, but a change in who runs American industry. And this is what the current political order is fighting to the death.
