Is the marketisation of science coupled to the obsession with RCR?
There’s one example in particular that comes close to summing up the entire argument of What Money Can’t Buy. It concerns an Israeli daycare centre, which responded to a problem with parents turning up late to collect their children by introducing fines. The result? Late pick-ups increased. Parents turned up late, paid the fine, and thought no more of it; the fine had turned into a fee.
The fear of disapproval and of doing the wrong thing was based on non-monetary values, and was a stronger force than mere cash. The daycare centre went back to the old system, but parents kept turning up late, because the introduction of market values had killed the old ideas of collective responsibility. Once the old “norm” of turning up on time had been marketised, it was impossible to change back.
What Money Can’t Buy by Michael Sandel review
John Lanchester
the guardian Thu 17 May 2012
http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781846144714
