Pay What You Feel is not "heterodoxical," Tom; it's the same payment model as the storytellers in Marrakech's Grand Souk, buskers on the tube, or roaming musicians from the 1600s. It is as old as the hills and does not need 3,600 words. Still, I am very happy to contribute exactly and precisely what I believe your content to be worth.
Yes, I would like you to write some very tight definitions on socialist, fascist, social democrat, etc. The way these words are used is so loose that very often they lose any function. Or, list them for a dictionary and talk about their interpretation and meaning.
How about a series on moral philosophy—Kant, Bentham, et al.? Personally, I am very interested in how two completely different views can both be moral, depending on the questions you ask.
A lot of food for thoughts here. I do see a couple of aspects rather differently, namely why people choose low amounts to pay and the relationship between PAYF/sliding scale and gift economy.
You repeatedly say that this model depends on the buyer choosing their own price according to what they deem fair, but the key here is asking what is the framework of determining "fairness" and ascribing value? It ultimately depends on societal conditioning and its hierarchical form of thinking. I'd say that the amount the buyer chooses depends first and foremost on the artificial cost of living inflicted by the State, and by programming that influences how we feel about money, value and production.
From first hand experience and talks with other people, I realised there's an ingrained feeling of shame attached to not being able to pay for things when we live within a system that is repeatedly telling us that production equals worth. Many poor and even more disabled, neurodivergent and/or other people who for any reason can't perform in line with capitalist demands and definitions of "productivity," exist in a liminal world in which you're unable to pay for basics and you're therefore constantly battling a sense of not being worthy of anything and being at fault for your financial circumstances.
Western society stigmatised poverty to grotesque proportions, and even when we know it's all bullshit and poverty is nothing but an expression of state violence, we've all been raised by internalised guilt and urge to hide our poverty. Even nowadays when we're generally much more awaken to the reality of polycrisis causes by capitalism, an awful lot of people feel uncomfortable to publicly display their poverty. Choosing a very low amount on the sliding scale in a way outs your poverty. In some cases you might even skip the product altogether because you feel unworthy of it. Or, you feel guilty about making the making/small business believe that you've paid xy amount because you consider their product worth very little, and you worry about the repercussions this would have for their business and livelihood.
Personal experience: a while ago I bought some books and pamphlets from a self-published author who offers sliding scale payments. I thought their work was tremendously valuable, but my low payment simply couldn't reflect my beliefs on value. My low payment reflected the fact that I was an unwaged disabled person. I was forced to choose a small amount or I'd be choosing between paying for these books and paying for food and electricity. I felt very bad about not paying this author what they deserve for their hard work. Similarly, I passed on some online courses where the facilitator offered free spots to those who can't pay the price, all you have to do is contact them and tell them you can't afford it. I passed the opportunity because I felt too ashamed to contact them and ask to deliver their labour for free. This is partly because of internalised ableism and the society being hostile and ready to jump at your throat if you aren't "visibly" disabled at the very first glance.
This just goes to show how capitalism is a vicious circle rigged to make breaking away from it impossible. Sliding scale payments still operate within a capitalist framework. A product offered on a sliding scale wasn't produced with supplies that came to the maker through a sliding scale system or for free, it's produced with materials paid for at a full market price. All the while the maker has to survive under capitalism selling their product for potentially very little money, with a possibility of not even making enough to cover the cost of materials. This can't function under capitalism where the roof over our head demands a hefty and full market price to pay.
Sliding scale payments are at best an attempt to humanise capitalism and dampen its harm. And that's not without merit, far from it, but it's not a long term solution that would enable people to have safe access to necessities. The only truly humane solution that obliterates hierarchies is gift economy, meaning moneyless system where monetary value doesn't exist at any entry or exit point. Sliding scale payments are NOT gift economy by definition - there's still monetary exchange, no matter how small it might be, which makes it (humanised) market economy.
In a gift economy, a baker gives someone a loaf of bread. They made that bread with flour, water and salt that were given to them by another person on the basis of simply being alive. We all exist and that fact alone inherently means we have the right to have flour. The person who processed the wheat and ground the flour did so on those premises of equity among all living creatures. Under this sort of arrangement, the concepts of "freeloading" and "selfishness" don't exist at all because all amounts of labour and bodily and mental abilities are equally valued. Hierarchy doesn't exist under gift economy, which makes it a form of moneyless mutual aid and a true anarchy. It's the ultimate interdependence where we make sure we take care of everyone, bed bound or walking, neurotypical or autistic, because we're all members of our community and inherently deserve to live and thrive.
P.S. Apologies for the massive comment, it's just a topic I'm passionate about, hope it wasn't too bothersome to read.
Pay What You Feel is not "heterodoxical," Tom; it's the same payment model as the storytellers in Marrakech's Grand Souk, buskers on the tube, or roaming musicians from the 1600s. It is as old as the hills and does not need 3,600 words. Still, I am very happy to contribute exactly and precisely what I believe your content to be worth.
All the best and good luck!
Sam
I'm working on a couple of articles for this relaunched "What Is ...?" series, on "Enshittification" and "Rage-Bait".
If you have any suggestions on topics you'd like to see me write about, I'd be happy to hear them.
Hi Tom,
Yes, I would like you to write some very tight definitions on socialist, fascist, social democrat, etc. The way these words are used is so loose that very often they lose any function. Or, list them for a dictionary and talk about their interpretation and meaning.
How about a series on moral philosophy—Kant, Bentham, et al.? Personally, I am very interested in how two completely different views can both be moral, depending on the questions you ask.
Possibilities?
All the best Sam
A lot of food for thoughts here. I do see a couple of aspects rather differently, namely why people choose low amounts to pay and the relationship between PAYF/sliding scale and gift economy.
You repeatedly say that this model depends on the buyer choosing their own price according to what they deem fair, but the key here is asking what is the framework of determining "fairness" and ascribing value? It ultimately depends on societal conditioning and its hierarchical form of thinking. I'd say that the amount the buyer chooses depends first and foremost on the artificial cost of living inflicted by the State, and by programming that influences how we feel about money, value and production.
From first hand experience and talks with other people, I realised there's an ingrained feeling of shame attached to not being able to pay for things when we live within a system that is repeatedly telling us that production equals worth. Many poor and even more disabled, neurodivergent and/or other people who for any reason can't perform in line with capitalist demands and definitions of "productivity," exist in a liminal world in which you're unable to pay for basics and you're therefore constantly battling a sense of not being worthy of anything and being at fault for your financial circumstances.
Western society stigmatised poverty to grotesque proportions, and even when we know it's all bullshit and poverty is nothing but an expression of state violence, we've all been raised by internalised guilt and urge to hide our poverty. Even nowadays when we're generally much more awaken to the reality of polycrisis causes by capitalism, an awful lot of people feel uncomfortable to publicly display their poverty. Choosing a very low amount on the sliding scale in a way outs your poverty. In some cases you might even skip the product altogether because you feel unworthy of it. Or, you feel guilty about making the making/small business believe that you've paid xy amount because you consider their product worth very little, and you worry about the repercussions this would have for their business and livelihood.
Personal experience: a while ago I bought some books and pamphlets from a self-published author who offers sliding scale payments. I thought their work was tremendously valuable, but my low payment simply couldn't reflect my beliefs on value. My low payment reflected the fact that I was an unwaged disabled person. I was forced to choose a small amount or I'd be choosing between paying for these books and paying for food and electricity. I felt very bad about not paying this author what they deserve for their hard work. Similarly, I passed on some online courses where the facilitator offered free spots to those who can't pay the price, all you have to do is contact them and tell them you can't afford it. I passed the opportunity because I felt too ashamed to contact them and ask to deliver their labour for free. This is partly because of internalised ableism and the society being hostile and ready to jump at your throat if you aren't "visibly" disabled at the very first glance.
This just goes to show how capitalism is a vicious circle rigged to make breaking away from it impossible. Sliding scale payments still operate within a capitalist framework. A product offered on a sliding scale wasn't produced with supplies that came to the maker through a sliding scale system or for free, it's produced with materials paid for at a full market price. All the while the maker has to survive under capitalism selling their product for potentially very little money, with a possibility of not even making enough to cover the cost of materials. This can't function under capitalism where the roof over our head demands a hefty and full market price to pay.
Sliding scale payments are at best an attempt to humanise capitalism and dampen its harm. And that's not without merit, far from it, but it's not a long term solution that would enable people to have safe access to necessities. The only truly humane solution that obliterates hierarchies is gift economy, meaning moneyless system where monetary value doesn't exist at any entry or exit point. Sliding scale payments are NOT gift economy by definition - there's still monetary exchange, no matter how small it might be, which makes it (humanised) market economy.
In a gift economy, a baker gives someone a loaf of bread. They made that bread with flour, water and salt that were given to them by another person on the basis of simply being alive. We all exist and that fact alone inherently means we have the right to have flour. The person who processed the wheat and ground the flour did so on those premises of equity among all living creatures. Under this sort of arrangement, the concepts of "freeloading" and "selfishness" don't exist at all because all amounts of labour and bodily and mental abilities are equally valued. Hierarchy doesn't exist under gift economy, which makes it a form of moneyless mutual aid and a true anarchy. It's the ultimate interdependence where we make sure we take care of everyone, bed bound or walking, neurotypical or autistic, because we're all members of our community and inherently deserve to live and thrive.
P.S. Apologies for the massive comment, it's just a topic I'm passionate about, hope it wasn't too bothersome to read.