From Non-commercial Societies to Market Societies
- In traditional societies social relations are more important than money (exchanges of free gifts, assumed to be reciprocated, prevail over buy and sell)
- In traditional societies the main motivation for production is the sustenance of one's family (and the performance of public rites)
- In traditional societies the larger society is an extension of family
- Ancient civilizations (from Egypt's old kingdom to feudal Europe) everywhere had economies based on redistribution of wealth
- Economy (in Greek: oeconomia) was production for domestic use
- Culture was a vehicle for enforcing sociomoral values
- Modern western society increasingly isolated the individual, which led to an emphasy on economic self-interest instead of communal sharing
- Instead of a gift-driven society, you get a society in which nothing is free, not even a "favor"
- Wealth becomes the main driver of the economy
- The economy becomes a market economy, in which everything has a price and the price is determined by supply and demand
- Production of goods is mainly for the purpose of selling, not using
- Culture becomes a vehicle for advertising production that is for global sale
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