terrorism Survey Results Why the economy is important
For most of us is a priori more enjoyable read a novel than a scientific book. We also think it is more pleasing in terms of literature math, and believe that the history of specific individuals to forge heroic lives to believe that gray is governed by laws of productivity and consumption. Our brains of primates are more sensitive to the myth that to the numbers.
However, the economy serves to explain the world around us, the more levels than it seems. As we saw in the post about the declining birth rate in Brazil seems as if people committed to seeking explanations "magic" (in this case was the influence of soap operas) to events that have demonstrable scientific causes. And when we do not talk about science having studied much, but know how to add and subtract basic level, like when we purchase.
An example of cultural materialism against Magical Thinking, The Ancient Egyptians thought the pig was an unclean animal, the Jewish religion forbade their consumption and aging, San Pablo Christianity allowed to eat pork (contrary to what Jesus practiced by ) and returned to Islam Jewish roots and upbringing prohibiting their use. Why?
Magical thinking says "just because" with some variations, and do not want to go further. One day someone said and they all were ignored. And why was successful this idea?. could say the same thing "because God says it and shut up" . A medical explanation also fails, since cooked meat does not transmit diseases.
cultural materialism, by contrast, a calculation of costs and benefits of growing up in a desert. The result is that raising pigs in ancient Egypt was very expensive, only available to the wealthy, and became a negative symbol, is the animal of Seth . The Jewish invention to prohibit the pig was a populist measure, and the resources devoted to raising a pig could invest in greater production of food (vegetable or other animals). By contrast, in the European climate pig breeding is not so expensive, people would not understand its ban Greco-Roman, and Paul (who never met Jesus Christ in person) invented a dream in which a voice told him he could eat pork.
Similarly, knowing that American horses were extinct until the arrival of English helps us understand the Aztecs just make use of the wheel. And this does not need to do numbers, but people are still amazed the topicazo of a culture that was so advanced but did not know wheel. And how were going to use, with tapirs?
And speaking of this: Why in the twentieth century in several countries, women began to have paid work, until then it was something marginal? The unofficial explanation that There is a moral force and continued progress of mankind that has led us inevitably to the achievement of social rights is another example of magical thinking . The only reason is that there was a demand for female labor. And as we know in countries with high rates of unemployment is not enough that people want to work, if there is demand and you feel like you stay at home.
According to anthropologist Marvin Harris ( contemporary American culture , Alianza Editorial 1984) changes in production after the Second World War (of a company producing goods has passed to a producing company and information services) led to a demand for clerical work (secretarial, etc..) for non-qualified personnel. That is, a worker was not necessary because no physical force was necessary, and men with studies already had a better job. It made possible the large-scale employment of women, a trend which continued after a period of economic crisis that was advantageous that the family had two incomes ... And this was causing a series of social changes.
And we think that the economy is a drag and does not tell us interesting things, and that there are forces that make us inevitable "evolve" , and we can sit at ease because it gets even better. But the truth is that in countries where production property is based on the situation of women is not the same as in countries where the service sector premium, and that if our countries advanced means of production changed in the opposite direction is quite possible that within a generation of women take back home and almost no work outside the home. It is unlikely that these changes occur, but should know what they were owed more than magical explanations, and that future changes in production can cause large changes in society. The
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