In an economic marketplace (at least in theory), the prices of goods and services are emergent.
Market forces determine the relative worth of a product or service through a larger conversation about value, scarcity, transaction costs...
This recent piece in the New York Times (written by a woman) on why 'guys' have more relationship value than 'men' really has me thinking:
Guys are often in between things like jobs and houses, which means they’re more likely to stay up with you all night, drinking wine and playing gin rummy. They’ll rub your belly. They’ll lick chocolate off it. They’ll like your cute little dog. A guy is never going to shoot Old Yeller in the woods.
Then again, guys don’t remember to tell you the doctor’s office called. They don’t check your tires before your big trip. They don’t say, “Call me when you get there.” They say, “Love you, have fun,” because they can’t imagine anything bad happening to you.
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Jeffrey Arnett, a developmental psychologist at Clark University, coined the term "emerging adult" to describe folks who straddle an extended adolescence.
I'm starting to wonder if it's useful to consider adulthood an emergent aspect of the cultural marketplace.
I think all the buzz about childmen after this article dropped speaks to that possiblity.
As both economic and cultural institutional currency drops and we move into a more networked-entrepreneurial economic (and eventually cultural) paradigm, I'm curious how much traction an apologetic for the childman might have...how popular 'guys' may become.
I don't think they're (we're?) going anywhere.
i thought this article, the apologetic one, was really sad. why can't people be men at work and guys at home? it's too much to expect people to be perfect, but a little fun and a little responsible seems realistic. i like the article, but i think i've decided that i don't buy the all-or-nothing view it seems to take. as for guys having more relationship value, she's speaking for herself, but i think probably men and hybrids find partners who value them too. i wonder if it might be a case of being happy with what you've got. she's surrounded by guys, at home and at work. she said she went into academia because she wanted to be around guy types, so i don't think it's fair to say she developed that view afterwards, but it did cross my mind. also, there's a comedian who talks about how inflation has made it harder (nearly impossible) for people to be as responsible as our grandparents. i'm still trying to track that down.
ReplyDeleteokay, here it is http://bit.ly/Oe0xl
ReplyDeleteRE: http://bit.ly/Oe0xl "women don't want marriage proposals when you owe them money." dude def has a point & i really like the ramen jokes.
ReplyDeletei do think that there are larger cultural and economic forces that are making dudes want less responsibilities in the conventional sense. ben barber gets into some of that territory in his book Consumed http://j.mp/WprbM
i think marx was right on when he talked about modes of economic production creating the ethos out of which social values develop. i think you could argue existing social patters are at least in part the byproduct of industrialization (think Ford's Fordlandia http://j.mp/z6Y9P ).
imho the definition of masculinity (and possibly humanity) is gonna have to evolve as we move out of beyond industrialization and into the network/info economy (e.g. post-macho world http://j.mp/3Yg4P ).
I think that's the notion at work behind the scenes in the NYT piece. but I agree that it wasn't a very thoughtful, or easy-to-follow treatment. 'guy' may just be her working placeholder til things really get sorted out.
i'm just glad this is all about males, because i'd hate feel irresponsible myself ;)
ReplyDeletewomen having kids kinda shades the responsibility discussion. if i were in charge, i'd give both sexes equal chance of getting pregnant.
ReplyDeletethat would be interesting. i'm imagining the scifi movie already.
ReplyDelete