The Different Kinds of Values

The previous chapters explained that:

• value is totally subjective and ultimately based on one’s desires – this makes it not flow easily througout society
• prices objectify that abstract value into exchangeable value to allow exchange and let value flow more easily

Pre-Exchangeable Value

Before a thing or service acquires exchangeable value, it has some inherent kind of value according to whatever is important to us:

• use value or utility or usefulness of something
• sentimental value or our attachment to something that is not useful
  • artistic value of the beauty of something
  • moral value or the integrity of a person (i.e. the morals of some people can be bought)
• cultural value or something that society gives importance to
  • historical value or an important thing in a society’s history (this could be seen as social sentimental value)
  • religious value or a thing that is made important by religion
  • environmental value or the importance to preserving nature

We can say that both sentimental and cultural values are often priceless or are expensive.

• sentimental value is personal
• cultural value is societal

We can call these Pre-Exchangeable Value. This has important in Supersociology as cultural artefacts, business management as product efficiency, and Bio Superphysics as addiction and mental diseases.

Exchangeable Value

These values when exchanged with other people in society, non-bilaterally, take on the form of prices in order to allow them to flow.

• This converts use value, sentimental value, cultural value into exchangeable value, or value in exchange

This is generated by society through relational* exchange. This requires what others think or feel.

For example, you have a store that sells bottled water. You have to price and advertise that water to make sure that all are sold before they expire. This is far more complex than personal budgeting.

The relational nature of exchangeable value leads to relational pricing.

Relational Pricing

Suppose Barry and Adam are walking at a commercial street. They see a cake at a bakery, and an iguana at the pet store next to it.

Barry might not see value in the cake, but Adam might, as he might want it for his wife’s birthday tomorrow.

The value of the cake to Adam comes from:

• the inherent nature of their culture* to impose gift-giving during birthdays, and
• the inherent nature of the cake as a kind of birthday gift, arising from the culture.

In contrast, the iguana does not have an inherent nature of being a gift. This is why Adam would not assign a value to an iguana.

• Adam would only assign a value to Iguana if his wife were an Iguana-lover (had the inherent nature of loving iguanas).
• In this case, he might ignore the cake and inquire about the iguana.

Thus, value is always relational or relativistic depending on the inherent nature of many things.

In this case, the value of the cake will depend on:

• Adam’s need for a cake. This is the useful value or ‘use-value’.
• Adam’s love for wife. This is ‘sentimental value’.
• Adam’s wife having a birthday event and Adam’s society* and culture imposing the need to give gifts during birthday events. This is ‘cultural value’

Businesses take note of such cultural values such as Christmas and Valentines to create the supply to match the expected demand.

Unlike Economics which focuses on use value, as proven by marginal utility, Supereconomics takes into account other values such as cultural, environmental, and sentimental values.