Cheap VS Value

 

Jennifer Burton

Geog 101

Prof. Richard Simpson

1/26/2020

Response paper #2

Cheap VS Value

The world we see today is devalued because of the capitalocene. Capitalocene is a runoff from the word anthrocene which means that humans have had an impact on everything on earth biologically and physically. According to Patel and Moore in the article “Introduction to the History of the World in Seven Cheap Things”, suggest that capitalism not only affects the value of people and the economy but also affects nature and its value. Patel and Moore came up with seven things that capitalism has affected the value of. They include nature, money, care, lives, work, food, and energy. These seven things becoming cheapened has caused problems for people and the environment alike. 

Capitalism is an economic system focused on profit; it prioritizes profit above all else and the bottom line is more important than anything or anyone else. This unfeeling system causes things to be valued less than they would be valued otherwise. Nature in the system of capitalism is thought to be a free gift that can be used without any thought of the consequence. Money is the source to control the system. Money is alive and moving, without this movement it is not worth anything. Care, according to Patel and Moore, is what is done by women who are “part of nature” (less than human)  and is often not compensated or is paid very little. “Caring” includes caring for the needs of the working people when they are not at work. Lives are cheaply valued because priority is given to the gain a profit.  Capitalism tries to maintain a social order and to have some people valued less than others to maximize labor.  Some groups, like women, indigenous people, and slaves are valued below others. Work needs to be cheap to maximize profit leading to slavery. Food and energy, including fuel,  needs to be cheap so that the slaves and workers will have what they need for their health so that they can work more efficiently.

  Capitalism has caused our world and many of our people to become “cheap”. This is a loss that has continued since the 14th century because the system and economy founded upon capitalism are unyielding and cannot be stopped. If people had decided from the beginning that our physical world, people, and other living organisms had more value than to generate wealth and have more technology than the next person, our natural world and humanities place in it would be more balanced and harmonious.