Business

Caveman economics

Business

Marshall Sahlins and others showed that early hunter gatherer societies generally didn’t work very hard. Two or three hours a day were spent gathering food, and the rest of the time was for social engagement and family.

With all the technology and innovation that has followed, why do we work four times as hard?

One reason is leverage. The tools we have offer apparently bigger prizes in exchange for the next unit of incremental labor. There wasn’t a point in working harder to get more berries, because you already had enough berries.

And the second reason is that the systems that created our culture have their own needs in mind. Landlords don’t provide housing as a public service–they do it to make a profit. And the wedding-industrial complex makes happy brides as a byproduct of making a profit. They’re the side effect, not the point.

Systems use status and affiliation within culture to motivate individuals to play along.

When it’s working as we hope, the system of systems produces possibility, civility and achievement. It increases health, connection and even joy.

But no one is in charge of these systems, and, especially as they become concentrated and powerful, they often fail to produce the outcomes we might be hoping for.

Many are intransigent and sticky, and they work hard to remain invisible. When we see the systems, we have a chance to do something about them. The hard part is organizing the community to push back before the new normal becomes permanent.

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