Determining Economic Activity in a Post-Capitalist System

Abstract

An activity is a peculiar type of commodity. One may be willing to perform an activity as work in return for a wage or to pay for the favor of performing an activity as a game. This chapter argues that changing the positive or the negative price of an activity does not unambiguously determine the demand for and the supply of this commodity. That is, when the inconvenience of an activity and its profit or the pleasure of an activity and its cost are balanced, a choice occurs, the issue of which is determined by a person’s psychosocial identity as symbolized—positively or negatively—by that activity. The unmotivated choice evokes a cognitive dissonance, and by this means, the price of the activity turns out to be effective psychologically and not economically.