# Aligning Intrinsic and Monetary Value By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-08-03 Do modern societal systems truly value things like education and community building? If one compares the wages of bankers versus teachers, one will quickly conclude that they do not - at least when comparing them to financial engineering institutions. Go down the list of average wages by industry and career field, and one will see a clear pattern of what is more valued on a monetary scale. As the modern and prominent view of economics believes in placing a monetary value on all things, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that wages indicate value. Even considering scarcity and skill levels, wages remain roughly the same. By many accounts, there are not enough teachers, yet wages remain low. This dynamic alone challenges many tenants of capitalism and the free market. Some will argue that teachers are mostly government employees, so it is not a free market. This argument only reinforces that education and community building are not valued. If it were, people would be willing to pay more taxes to attract higher-performing teachers. Even in wealthier communities, teachers remain at the bottom of the pay scale by comparison. David Graeber argues that this paradox exists because education and community-building jobs are viewed by society as needing less pay because they get some intrinsic value from their work. In other words, teachers can be paid less because their job matters, whereas the corporate lackey needs more pay because their job is bullshit and meaningless. Intuitively, this idea has merit. However, it is disturbing and seems utterly backward to what progress looks like. The web of societal value is complex and fluid, but economic and monetary value systems dominate it. What would the world look like if the intrinsic value was valued monetarily? This is a transformative thought and the bridge to something beyond the modern and post-modern. #### Related Items [[Society]] [[Metamodernism]] [[Education]] [[Community]] [[Salary]] [[Work]] [[Economics]] [[Value]]