A Question of Worth : Economy, Society and the Quantification of Human Value

We live in a world that has become a resource, a world conditioned by the progressive domination of a monetary scale applied across the board. Our value and worth are contingent upon what we earn and own. Amidst the financialization that characterizes much of the globe, the prevailing ethos is that the only values we can usefully measure are those that can be quantified and expressed in terms of economics. Yet economic value and the value of the human are closely connected: erode the economic and you erode the personal. In the global economic crash of recent years it has been people who have been under assault, not just financial value. The vulnerability of a society shaped only by economic and monetized transactions is exposed by what happens when the economy and the monetization of everything fails. When the economic machine seizes up, it is people who are devalued and dumped. Drawing upon his experience in government, education and the Church, and driven by his long experience of dealing with the casualties of contemporary society, the author asks: must we be a market society as well as a market economy? Can we devise a non-economic account of describing human value and worth? Christopher Steed argues that the really important issues that frame the contemporary human situation are those that cannot be measured. Quality is also vital to human flourishing: what, after all, is wealth for? What kind of society do we want to be in? What price is given to the non-quantifiable and non-economic goods that make life worthwhile? In a timely and pioneering work, the author argues for a wider concept of value-one that encompasses both economic value and human value-allowing the dominant economic model to be re-calibrated to give greater space to human value. Présentation de l'éditeur : " Our value and worth are contingent upon what we earn, on what we own. Amidst the financialisation that characterises much of the globe, the prevailing ethos is that the only values we can usefully measure are those that can be quantified and expressed in terms of economics. Yet economic value and the value of the human are closely connected: erode the economic and you erode the personal. In the global economic crash of recent years it has been people who have been under assault not just financial value. The vulnerability of a society shaped only by economic and monetised transactions is exposed by what happens when the economy and the monetisation of everything fails. When the economic machine seizes up, it is people who are devalued and dumped. Drawing upon his experience in government, education and the Church, and driven by his long experience of dealing with the casualties of contemporary society, the author asks: must we be a market society as well as a market economy? Can we devise a non-economic account of describing human value and worth? Christopher Steed argues that the really important issues that frame the contemporary human situation are those that cannot be measured. Quality is also vital to human flourishing: what, after all, is wealth for? What kind of society do we want to be in? What price the non-quantifiable and non-economic goods that make life worthwhile? In a timely and pioneering work, the author argues for a wider concept of value-one that encompasses both economic value and human value-allowing the dominant economic model to be re-calibrated to give greater space to human value." "We live in a world that has become a resource, a world conditioned by the progressive domination of a monetary scale applied across the board. Our value and worth are contingent upon what we earn, on what we own. Amidst the increasing financialisation that characterises much of the globe, the prevailing ethos is that the only values we can usefully measure are those that can be quantified and expressed in terms of economics. Yet economic value and the value of the human are closely connected: erode the economic and you erode the personal. In the global economic crash of recent years it has been people who have been under assault not just financial value. The vulnerability of a society shaped solely by economic and monetised transactions is exposed when the economy and the monetisation of everything fails. When the economic machine seizes up, it is people who are devalued and dumped. Drawing upon his experience in government, education and the Church, the author asks: Must we be a market society as well as a market economy? Can we devise a non-economic account of describing human value and worth? Christopher Steed argues that the really important issues that frame the contemporary human situation are those that cannot be measured. Quality is also vital to human flourishing: what, after all, is wealth for? In this timely and important work, the author calls for a wider concept of value - one that encompasses both economic value and human value - and for a society that cultivates the importance of the human."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Contents Introduction Setting the Scene – Cameos of Yesterday 1 How Did We Get Here? Quantification as a Way of Life Part One: The Social Transmission of Value 2 The Differentiation of Worth – Life in Layers 3 The Distribution of Worth – You Are What You Earn 4 The Demonstration of Worth – You Are What You Own Part Two: Capitalism on the Couch 5 1st Symptom: Private Lives and Performance Anxiety 6 2nd Symptom: Power Imbalance – the Sunny Side of the Street 7 3rd Symptom: Poverty and the Lumpen Proletariat 8 4th Symptom: Pain – (the Emotional Cost of Recession) 9 Excursus: Pathology in the City – Tales of the Left Behind 10 5th Symptom: Performativity and Education 11 5th Symptom (continued): Performativity – Workplace and Wards 12 6th Symptom: Predatory Behaviour Part Three: Marching to a Different Drum 13 Environments of Value 14 Rebooting Capitalism 15 Visions Seen: High-Value Society and the Goals of Politics Postscript: Through Thick and Thin Notes Index