Monday 1 October 2012

What Money Can't Buy

Michael Sandel Sept 12, Labour Party Conference
Really enjoyed the talk by Michael Sandel from Harvard yesterday.  Funnily enough I was relistening to his Reith lectures the other week.  I'm a particular fan of the idea that we don't always want to be consumers, we do actually want to be citizens as well.

 His idea that we are now living in a market society, not just a market economy, is particularly pertinent these days, especially when it comes to issues like trust that I have blogged about before.  Valuing things only when they have a price tag attached does not reflect the values that we all have.  CEO salaries no longer reflect the value that they bring to the job.  Price no longer tells us something about the real value of an item, all it tells us is how the 'item' wants to be valued.  
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown1 October 2012 at 14:57

    The things that money cannot buy are the most valuable - love, friendship, confidence and appreciation. That is what I hate about Tory philosophy - all about money with no idea of real value. In a recession the greatest value that we have is the time and talent of people - we must listen and value them not discard them if they are not employees or consumers.

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    1. Philippa Roberts10 October 2012 at 06:06

      If you were listening to Radio 4 Today this morning, you'll have heard Andrew Simms from NEF talking about how people should be allowed to do a 4 day week and use the 5th day to garden! Think I might see if the next person I hire wants to do that. Apparently can make you more productive, reduce the number of sick days and makes people healthier. Just shows how much we value our free time.

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