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We might consider, then, joy in voluntary activity to be the default, rather than the end product of labor.

Consider this description of hunter-gatherer society from Karl Widerquist and Grant McCall’s “Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy”:

“This economic mobility is apparent in ethnographic descriptions. Woodburn (Woodburn 1968a: 52) writes, ‘Hunting is not a coordinated activity. Men hunt individually and decide for themselves where and when they will go hunting.’ According to Harris (1977: 69), band members, ‘decided for themselves how long they would work on a particular day, what they would work at—or if they would work at all…Neither rent, taxes, nor tribute kept people from doing what they wanted to do.’“

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