Cost Space and Culture
Cost Space and Culture
The word ‘culture’ does not seem to require any explanation, although it should be stressed that the thread uses the term in a broad sense. It should be understood not only as a conscious activity, a sophisticated creation, but also as any kind of form-building, even if it is not conscious. The term ‘cost space’ is not used in any standard economic sense, but as a way of saying that the costs of economic management are not neutral in terms of space; that the efforts sacrificed by (i. e. costs of) human activity for various ends shape space (environment); that they can produce distinctive patterns that people not only create but also relate to.
Even in a short period of time, absolute or relative variations in costs can bring about many changes in what F. Braudel calls material culture. If you like: human history is a history of costs and opportunity costs.