Adding to the discussion we had today in class about the Gold Standard and Ideology, I found an interesting blog post which is a contemporary address to the movement that it would be a good idea to reintroduce the Gold Standard.
I thought it was especially interesting that the author ends his post with a quote from Samuel Johnson about marriage, and relating that, specifically the notion of a failed marriage, to the idiocy of reintroducing the Gold Standard. There it is! Marriage as a traditionally viewed rock solid social institution, and the Gold Standard as something constant that we can put our faith into! We talked about marriage with Roxana, and we will discuss it revolving around ideology, the Gold Standard and Emma. How perfect is that?!
“… a second marriage the triumph of hope over experience”!
Good find, that’s a great blog post that further explains the Gold Standard we discussed in class.
I really like Johnson’s point of likening a second marriage to an economy operating in a Gold Standard system. Marriage is an institution of trust that requires the participants to contribute their part to the system, and trust in others to make their own contributions, in order for the system to work (like in a credit-based economy). Marriage seems to be another “trust-based system” example that’s been sitting in front of my nose the whole time, and I’m only noticing it now with this post! I think that speaks to how powerfully these systems based on trust are embedded into society.
Another example of a “trust-based system” we can look at is the various social rankings that exist in “Emma.” In searching “capital” in my word search in-class today, I found that in all three times the word was used throughout the novel, it was in the context of social capital: characters are encouraged to act/behave/perform in a “capital” way. “Emma” uses societal rankings to categorize people into certain groups. As Professor Dick mentioned today, the story focuses on Emma as she tries to defy these preset “rankings” in her matchmaking of Harriet and Mr. Elton. This failed matchmaking shows how powerful these unspoken rules in society (credit-based economy, marriage, social rankings, etc.), truly are.
This is starting to make me wonder: is there nothing we do in western society that is based on some kind of solid foundation?!
I like your question! Is there anything WORTH doing in our society that is based on some kind of solid foundation? I think drawing from Emma, and our discussion in class today, the way we used the word dynamics is interesting because all these relationships we discuss and that society revolves around, both social and monetary, seem to be very dynamic, from what I absorbed during class today.
That is to say, that throughout Emma, we see social rankings and relationships that are dynamic, that change, that may not what they appear to be, and we can (and have) extrapolate that facade to the gold standard, to name one example.
I struggle to find larger structures in western society that have a “solid foundation”. Obviously our foundations for certain things like the engineering behind airplanes are solid enough to get them in the air, but only to an extent. Closer to our comfort zones as students, schools of thought and what is accepted, in all academic fields, are dynamic and subject to change and by no means over a long enough time span have a solid foundation. I don’t feel super confident about my response to your question, which is why I like it, I’ll have to think about it some more!