By: Aleece Germano
As a social entrepreneur, I have observed that our society truly does not value things that do not come with a price tag. Thanks to thousands of years of conditioning, attaching a numeric value to anything and everything has become so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche that if something does not come with a price tag, it seems valueless to us.
Consequently, the simple things in life such as, clean air, friendship, peace, happiness, love, and even leisure time are often overlooked, disrespected and/or undervalued. When we prioritize monetary value over intrinsic value, the result can be disastrous.
How many times have you made decisions based on a dollar amount rather than your gut feeling or instinct? Have you ever let money or something of value end a friendship or relationship?
Some more questions:
-
What is the real price of free?
-
Do we need to assign a price to the priceless?
-
Is commodification really the answer?
-
How long will this continue until it’s too late?
-
How do we undo all this conditioning?
I think that you hit the nail on the head when you attributed society’s tendency to place importance on monetary value to years of social conditioning.
Personally, I believe it is extremely important to consider how institutions, religion, community, peer pressure, social status, and other factors reinforce the belief that material wealth reigns supreme. Before we start to understand what it means to implement a green economy and sustainable development, maybe we need to take a minute to consider why money has been assigned greater value than the actual commodities it provides. I use the term commodity here defined as “a useful or valuable thing, such as water or time.”
In my opinion, one way that a society can start to reassign value to the commodities that are essential for survival (ie. water, clean air, uncontaminated food, housing, culture, relationships, education, etc.), is for each individual person to start shifting their perspective, and truly understand the layers of conditioning they have been subjected to.
Sure, it’s fine to talk about how money has become a big problem… and how governments only think about the economy… and how corporations are greedy and want to destroy the environment, etc. etc… But what are you doing as an individual that is making a difference in how society allocates value upon the things that we all enjoy and love?
Here’s a quick example: Consider how many times you downloaded a pirated mp3 from the internet… obviously, music is something that people love and it’s great that you can get all kinds of it for free (but not really free). HOWEVER! Do you realize that each time you decide to download a “free” mp3 you subconsciously decrease your own personal value of that music? If music was REALLY all that important to you, then wouldn’t you assign some value to it and pay the artists in exchange so that they can keep making more?
Ok, here’s something more appropriate for the sustainability community. Consider how many times you decide to buy your fruits and vegetables from a big supermarket, instead of paying an extra few cents to buy them from a local farmers market (or from Frigo Vert). Each time you make a choice like that you subtract value from the local farmer and reassign it to a big argi-business. It’s as simple as that.
Reassigning value to the things that are essential for our survival as an enlightened culture requires each individual to make personal and political choices that will slowly start to influence how others regard those things. As a collective we can make a big difference in how our society evolves… but, I believe it will first require each of us to become fully aware of the microcosmic shifts we must make in our own subconscious, as we reassign value to those things that we hold dear to our hearts and undo many years of social conditioning.
Money is a resource. Just as technology, education, food, clothing, etc. There is nothing wrong with commodification, as it simply shows us that certain things are valuable. The problem is when the most valuable things, the ones that are essential to maintaining our species (ie. the planet!) are seen as having less of value than the numbers in your bank account, or that green piece of paper that unfortunately cannot be eaten.
In our society today, everything materialistic, consumable, efficient often has to do with money and time. Make more money to buy more to satisfy our desires temporarily and up our status.
“As a social entrepreneur, I have observed that our society truly does not value things that do not come with a price tag” This is definitely a sad reality and majority of us are guilty of it, I know I am. But, I’ve noticed that as I’ve grown older and matured I’ve realized the value of items that don’t have monetary value. Maybe we should instil the value of intrinsic items in our youth from a young age to better our society as a whole?
I agree fully with the opinions expressed in this article, It’s quite funny when you analyze yourself you can realize how much the notion of “value” has become monetized on even a personal level. Recently I prevented myself from purchasing a watch that I liked because shockingly… It wasn’t expensive enough, the product had no status or brand appeal. I am actually shocked with my action and this article has made me realize this. I guess what I would like to add to the conversation is the notion of paying for what is “free”. If we don’t change our ways we will inevitably pay. We don’t value clean air in a monetary sense, but when we start getting receiving personal carbon taxes we will. We don’t value the gifts of the ocean but when we start paying a premium for all fish, the same way we do for bluefin tuna, we will. Essentially, we will make a choice to value and protect what is free now, or eventually value it because the market mechanism forced prices on these things. It time to ditch notion of economic value and think about what really matters, what is truly valuable because, if not, we will end up paying and what has been considered free, or a birth right will be no more.
I agree with what you said, it is disheartening what the society has come to. We all unknowingly make decisions based solely on the dollar amount without taking into account other more important factors. I for one can’t think of the number of times I have done that. However, personal relationships in my opinion are far more important than money and should never be ended because of it. This of course is an ideal that many people repeat without following but it is still true. I think the only way to undo all the conditioning would be for everyone to step back from the commercialized world and take a break for a while, go to “free” spots to appreciate nature’s beauty and remember that there are things in life that are beautiful and free at the same time. People are used to the notion that the more expensive the cost the better and higher the quality, that’s not necessarily always the case.
Hello! This is a very touchy subject for many I think because lots of people I know won’t admit that they value money over happiness and “success”. People are often confused by the term success as well, they often associate it with income and materialistic possessions. Just the other day a friend of mine was tell me to find partner with money and power. I never allow myself to judge or befriend anyone based on their income or possessions. At times, i do choose to buy higher priced items in stores because they have more “value” as in more longer lasting and rare. Economists also found that people chose higher paying jobs even though they know such occupations will not make them happy.
In order to stop this conditioning to monetary value, I think we should include in employee benefit packages, aside from personal days and healthcare… a trip to a poor country with a charity organization for people to open their eyes and see how important it is to value the laws in the country you live in and the great relationships you have and the abundance of food and clean water..This will open more eyes and maybe change the way we value things..
Furthermore, it would be confusing to put a price on friendships or free access to almost everywhere because just because you pay for something doesn’t mean you value it more..it can mean it is a necessity like food/housing/medication..things that give big intrinsic value are sometimes necessary for people to have like friendships..so putting a price won’t make you understand what is important to them.
It is sad that our society has come to people deeming their worth based on monetary value. Instead of truly understanding the value of what we already have, we are looking to spend more and more on what we think will make us feel better inside. But, as we usually tend to realize, these “benefits” only last a couple of days and we later forget about them. It is important for us as human beings to take into consideration the value of intangible items, such as family, friends and health etc Many people all over the world struggle to maintain one of these and we should consider ourselves extremely lucky to even have them easily at our disposal.
Over time, I have come to realize that there is no such thing as “free”. Free is a word used by companies to lure you into their premise and trap you in the world of consumerism, where we are encouraged to spend at our hearts desires. With the availability of credit, our society is succumbing to this and putting themselves in debt in order to satisfy our need to spend. In the end, it all comes to individuals to realize what is going on, to control themselves and learn what is actually important for their well-being.
I think that this article raises a very valid point about our functioning as a society. It is more than clear that we now live in a society where most, if not all, of our interactions and objects are quantified and commodified. Something as simple as a conversation amongst friends often involves a cofee shop or a fine restaurant, and that ignores the more subtle cost of our time. Some other comments have argued that the problem lies not in commodification but rather in what value we attribute to what goods and/or services. The example of the food industry really brings the problem home.
That being said, perhaps the debate should be more conceptual than related to redistribution. Assigning more values to sustainable products such as organic food products does not take away the fact that many items that we vitaly need are being commodified in such a way that some of us no longer have access to it. Perhaps the best known example of this negative conception of commodification is the ‘water wars’ in Cochabamba (Bolivia) where the attempts to pivatize water networks (thereby increasing its costs) led to widespread social protests.
To what extent can we ‘commodify’ such basic needs as water or clean air? Can we really just limit our analysis to re-distributing what we believe is valuable? Or is there a deeper problem with the whole idea of ‘commodification’?
In the end, every society has to understand that quantifying every single thing might not be optimal both in terms of sustainability and in terms of development.
For me “free” is not associated with monetary value, but this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any emotional value. Therefore assigning a price to the priceless is unnecessary. For example, I could be spending time with my family which wouldn’t cost me anything but it would still be something valuable to me. In economics, the level of satisfaction the person derives from a good or service is called the utility which varies from person to person. However, in this society we tend to value items with a higher monetary value as a sign of status. This is exemplified with certain brands, owning these brand names would suggest that you are stylish and trendy. Even our relationships with other people can sometimes be affected by material possessions. There are many people out there that are always comparing what they have to what their neighbour has and trying to impress the people around them by the things they own. I personally have never had a ruined relationship because of money but my friend had to deal with a situation where her friend was stealing from her. These situations reveal how are society has become obsessed with material possessions and its value. In general, our society has really put an emphasis on the monetary value of things but it is definitely not too late to make a conscious effort to find happiness in simplicity. We just need to go back to the basics and need to start finding happiness in intangible things rather than in an abundance of unnecessary needs. Most importantly individuals in our society need to stop defining themselves by the material possessions they own.
I have never and, as long as I’m in my right mind, I will never let money or something of value come in the way of my friendship or relationship with someone. In fact, I take friendship very seriously. So once I’m your friend, I am your friend.
I believe that a price cannot be placed on something that is hard to measure in value. So when it comes to things like nature, clean air, friendship, happiness, peace and love, I may value those things a whole lot more than someone else, and another someone else can value it even more than me. For example, the governments of the United Nation countries have been spending billions of dollars, on their armies, to buy peace. Have we seen peace till this day? Peace is worth a whole lot more than even a trillion dollars, and in fact, the value of peace is so much that it’s immeasurable.
Some things like friendship and love already have commodification practices. I have heard of people paying for love, not just from prostitutes, but from regular people for real relationships or even just for show. This is something the mostly rich people do, and the same goes for friendship. Technically clean air can already be purchased, in the case of buying an oxygen tank or an air purifier machine. Otherwise, something like happiness is something that money can’t buy, as many people say. Yes, you can always buy something that may make you feel good at that moment, but then again is that truly happiness.
Overall, I believe that to be able to condition people to value things a certain way, is that it has to be taught to them during their upbringing. To me it’s part of a cultural thing. So if it’s not in the society’s culture to value nature and friendship a certain way, then people will be taught from young that those things are not that important. For example, in countries like France, friendships and all other kinds of relationships are seen as important in the culture. When you greet someone, whether it’s the first time you meet them or not, you have to give a kiss on both cheeks, or else you’ll be seen as rude. Another case is if you’re a male and you go to the restaurant and you happen to see a female you know, even if you’ve only met them once before, then it is only right to pay for their meal and the meal of all of their female friends with them, if they happen to be with a female friend, otherwise you will be seen as rude and disrespectful. This all shows that in this culture you are taught to be friendly, and to build and maintain good friendships/relationships. Many European cultures are like this and that’s why Europe holds a lot of happy people. All the major places for art, beauty, love and romance are all in Europe. Places like Paris, Venice, London, Madrid, and so on. Therefore, it all begins with the culture of the society.
I think this topic of what “free means” is extremely interesting to really go deep and think about, but at the same time very sensitive. This world goes round because of money. There would be no conflict if everyone were in equal levels of happiness, wealth and health. However, I believe that money can’t emotionally serve human needs. Friendships and family are the most important basic connections that affect the well-being and development of any human being. These connections come for free and depend on individuals to make them work.
I won’t deny it either though, money does give me a sense of direction and hope that I can live a comfortable life in the future! Money provides a sense of comfort that I was able to accomplish something and should now be able to live a lavish life. But doing so means finding a job that helps me achieve that but at the same time, hope I actually love going to that job. Sometimes you have to pay the price for living that lavish life by working enough until you can finally enjoy that life. But i think the root of this debate lies with the actual definition of “free” and for that reason exists so many conflicting thoughts.
It is true that nowadays when we talk about value we refer to “monetary value” and forget about the intrinsic value of things. Some things such as love or friendship are essential in people’s life and as you said or often undervalued under the monetary value of material things. When we look at the society, television or celebrities, they make it seem like it is more important to have a big house with luxury things in it than to have personal relationships.
We should remind people of the “value of free” that people take for granted and forget about it until they lose it. I do not think to “assign a price to the priceless” would help, each of these things have different value for different people. But people need to be reminded. Let’s show them how it would be without it. For example, wild nature places are of great beauty and value. If we continue to pollute and build like we do, one day we will not have them anymore. It would be a pity. People by that time will regret not to have considered them enough when they could and it is already happening for certain places and things. We need to educate people about the value of priceless things.
I have never let money be a problem in my relationships and hope I never will. It is very sad that it has come to this, people doing terrible things just for money. We are slowly losing our values and the sense of what is important in life….family time, moments spent with friends laughing, enjoying nature etc. Society has made us dependent on money, we value everything based on money including human beings. Some people view rich people as being more important than other…it’s really really sad. But I have all of this will continue because everything will a high price tag is seen as prestigious in our society. People driven solely by money in life miss out on the real meaning of life. I bet not a single person thought to himself at the end of his/her life: “I wish I bought this car instead of that car” or “I wish I had more designer clothes”….it all comes down too “I wish I spent more time with my friend”, “I wish I was there more for my family”, “I wish I travelled and visited the world”. Sadly, a lot of people realize this when its too late. The price of doing these important things is far more than the price of any object we can buy.