Frank Chodorov's "The Rise and Fall of Society"

"Readers of The Rise and Fall of Society will have little difficulty in grasping the reasons for Rothbard's esteem. The book is a penetrating analysis of the structure of world history. Chodorov uses a basic principle of economics to provide what a philosopher of a very different stripe, John Macmurray, called "the clue to history."

In order to survive, human beings must labor, but labor is onerous: to the extent that we can do so, we prefer to avoid labor. Chodorov of course recognizes that some people engage in activities that they enjoy for their own sake, but this is not the usual case. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." (Genesis 3:19) Mises recognized the same principle, calling it the "disutility of labor."

How can people get what they want, given their unwillingness to labor? Chodorov once more calls attention to the obvious. People find it much easier to achieve their desires by exchanges with others than by a futile effort to produce everything they want by themselves. In this fact Chodorov finds the glue that holds society together. It is not necessary to postulate a social instinct to explain why society exists. The principle that we wish to attain our desires with the least effort possible suffices...

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