Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!amara!chionia!tom From: tom@chionia.amara.uucp (Tom Doehne) Newsgroups: sci.bio Subject: Re: Why People Like Lawns, etc. Summary: Lawns used to be a major symbol of status, like yachts today. Message-ID: Date: 18 Jan 89 15:01:08 GMT References: <23468@mordor.s1.gov> <3057@cbnews.ATT.COM> <115@arcturus.edsdrd.eds.com> <1908@buengc.BU.EDU> Sender: tom@amara.UUCP Followup-To: sci.bio Organization: Applied Dynamics International, Inc. Lines: 49 In-reply-to: bph@buengc.BU.EDU's message of 16 Jan 89 20:04:02 GMT In article <1908@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) writes: > Maybe the lawn is to our homes what the fur is to our backs... For an venerable (early this century) explanation of why people like lawns (as well as a lot of other things), take a look at "Theory of the Leisure Class", by Thorstein Veblen. It's a classic of political science/economics. So why do people have lawns? As Blair noted, > "a yard expresses a measure of wealth and success". A couple of hundred years ago, only the nobility and wealthiest merchants could afford lawns. Lawnmowers did not exist, and lawns were kept cropped by sheep, and gardeners. One had to be able to afford these, and few could. Therefore, a lawn, especially a large one, was a status symbol (a measure of how much money one could p*ss down the drain). Much like Jaguars, Mercedes, etc. today. Veblen is full of examples of this kind of behaviour -- current customs that arose in the general population from imitation of the `leisure classes' (rulers) of previous centuries. This is a more parsimonious explanation of why people like lawns, buttressed by a theory with a wealth of supporting evidence (other instances of analogous behaviour). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Doehne Applied Dynamics International tom%amara.UUCP@umix.cc.umich.edu 3800 Stone School Rd. ...(uunet|umix)!amara!tom Ann Arbor, Mi 48108 -------------------------------------(313)973-1300-----------------