THE VALUTON: AN AUTOMATION MODEL OF A SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY OF VALUE GENESIS

Abstract

Theories of value are legion, few axe satisfactory, however. Scarcity as source of value is too relativistic and also unable to explain negative evaluation of scarce objects. Labor as a basis of value cannot take account of observed variations of the value of goods. The present approach is an attempt to see value as the result of two sociological processes: proliferation and status association. The first process determines the value of a commodity by its information content, the other by a perceptional process, the halo-effect. The value of a commodity is hence the result of its history, a string of inputs. They lend themselves to be represented in form of an automaton. A prototype of such an automaton is presented, the valuton. A critical assessment concludes the article.