5th December 2005, 01:11 PM
RealJob writes...
Hmmm. I think you have got the answer in your own statements!
The free market is a mechanism by which the purchaser of goods or services chooses who provides those services. That choice is made by looking at a variety of factors - price, professionalism, experience, location, efficiency are all among them. As consumers we are all looking to get 'best value', which may not mean the lowest price.
Therefore a vibrant free market in any product will support both
1. high-end professionals who pay higher wages, offer pensions, training and other benefits - and therefore attract better staff who do better jobs and therefore can charge higher fees...
2. ...people who charge as little as possible, pay peanuts, give their staff no training or benefits and do a crap job.
Archaeology is no different from any other profession in this regard. Next time you have your boiler serviced you will choose a plumber or heating engineer who you think offers best value of professionalism versus cost. Next time you get your car serviced you make the same choice.
So as long as there is a free market then both ends of the spectrum will exist. And talking in this way about a free market does not make me a Thatcherite, it is simply acknowledging the reality of Western society in the twenty-first century.
Quote:quote:There is no necessary connection between raised wages and professionalism and the free market, they just happen to have happened at the same time.
Quote:quote:think many diggers see the market in archaeology as being the scource of low wages, short contracts, shoddy archaeology and all the other ills that get discussed on this forum.
Hmmm. I think you have got the answer in your own statements!
The free market is a mechanism by which the purchaser of goods or services chooses who provides those services. That choice is made by looking at a variety of factors - price, professionalism, experience, location, efficiency are all among them. As consumers we are all looking to get 'best value', which may not mean the lowest price.
Therefore a vibrant free market in any product will support both
1. high-end professionals who pay higher wages, offer pensions, training and other benefits - and therefore attract better staff who do better jobs and therefore can charge higher fees...
2. ...people who charge as little as possible, pay peanuts, give their staff no training or benefits and do a crap job.
Archaeology is no different from any other profession in this regard. Next time you have your boiler serviced you will choose a plumber or heating engineer who you think offers best value of professionalism versus cost. Next time you get your car serviced you make the same choice.
So as long as there is a free market then both ends of the spectrum will exist. And talking in this way about a free market does not make me a Thatcherite, it is simply acknowledging the reality of Western society in the twenty-first century.