Keith Hudson > Since hunter-gatherer days, time has always been worth something -- whether > in money, kind or as so many days labour per quarter on the lord of the > manor's plot. But I can't comment on Weber. Haven't got him on my shelves.
As much as I relish the Far Side-ish image of a stocky caveman punching a time clock as he picks up his club, I don't really think we're talking about the *same thing* when we talk about wage labour and hunting-gathering. But what does it mean to say "time has always been worth something?" Benjamin Franklin was talking about a clear and constant quantitative measure: if 1 day = 10 shillings, 1/2 day = 5 shillings. Surely, Keith, you are not suggesting that for hunter-gatherers, if 1 week = 1 mastadon, 2 weeks = 2 mastadons? It seems to me that had it been possible for hunter-gatherers to think in such a way (and I deny vehemently that it would have been possible), there would have been no impetus for the development of agriculture.
