Social wants and the constitutive conception of interests

Social wants

Private wants have been conceptualized as excluding social wants, and the latter now need to be brought into the picture. Social wants do not need to be given a very precise definition. They are simply nonprivate wants, that is, wants that are not merely for some form of individually private enjoyment, but involve the behavior, feelings, or interests of others. That social wants are part of the interests of individuals is self-evident. What does deserve to be emphasized, though, is that they are also interests relevant to production and distribution. Some examples of wants that have this relevance will suffice. First of all, there are social wants that individuals satisfy by using economic goods, that is, goods involving opportunity costs; such goods may be groceries for a dinner party or purchased gifts. Secondly, in a market economy entrepreneurs provide profit-making opportunities for sociability, such as dating services and facilities and programs for socializing in highrise apartment buildings. Finally, governments and nonprofit organizations provide sociability facilities such as community centers and churches, and these clearly involve economic costs. These are social wants that have obvious economic relevance, and nothing very striking is done by the inclusion of such wants in the appropriate extension of the economic concept of normative sovereignty.