Cohousing-L Mailing List: Value of Work

[Sharon Villines (sharonvillines]

I'm reading Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple
Living by Jerome M. Segal. He talks about work in economist's terms as
having "exchange value" or "use value". A diamond has a very high exchange
value but less use value. Cooking has very high use value but less exchange
value. No one ever pays as much to a good cook as for a diamond. And this is
not just because it is a service with a disappearing product.

Much of the use value of cooking is not recognized outside the home because
it never enters the market place to be measured in value terms. It happens
without being measured. It just is.

Of course we know that is not true ultimately, but for many people it is
true on a daily basis. Children just eat. Husbands often just eat. Guests
just eat. The cook gets no recognition except for a special occasion. The
daily breakfast gets nothing.

I think perhaps there is something in requiring cooking that continues this
pattern. Other forms of work are seen as having both use and exchange value.
Everyone enjoys the garden and gardeners are praised for gardening. We
expect that someone will enjoy doing the gardening. Someone will enjoy doing
the accounting, if only because some see it has having status of some sort.
We have a young man who is working very hard on our budgeting process
because it is good training for him and feather in his cap professionally.

Why don't we expect this of cooking?

Segal would say "Because we are still seeing it as work with no grace."
Gardening has a graceful element to it (though we  know it is back breaking
also). Columns of figures all sorted out are graceful. It pleases many of us
to do sums and equations.

We don't approach cooking the same way we do other activities. That I think
is the point I'm wondering about.

Sharon
-- 
In Washington DC where all roads lead to Casa Blanca


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