The question of worldview (was Re: Wizard-Muggle marriage)

[Jenett]

No: HPFGUIDX 33676

On Fri, 18 Jan 2002, cindysphynx wrote:
> Given that the population of the wizarding world in Britain is small 
> (we did decide it was small, right?), I wonder if substantial numbers 
> of wizards live as muggles by choice.  I don't see how there would be 
> enough jobs to support them all.  How many robe shops do you really 
> need, after all?  Perhaps rather than attempt to scratch out a living 
> in the wizarding world, marginal wizards cross over and live as 
> muggles, where the living is easy if you can solve the occasional 
> problem with magic.

Yeah - but there are also problems with that.

Do wizards do all the appropriate Muggle paperwork (birth certificate, 
proof that you're able to work (Social security card in the US, I know 
there are UK equivalents).

How do you prove what education you've recieved - no employer can contact 
your school to see if you really *did* get a degree. Even if you were 
raised in the Muggle world, you'd have a really hard time going on to 
University - because your secondary education didn't prepare you for that 
kind of work. You didn't take the Muggle tests - you took Newts and Owls. 

And so on, and so forth. 

It might be possible for wizards who had been raised in the Muggle world 
(they'd have some of the paperwork, for certain) but even they wouldn't be 
able to apply for many well-paying jobs - they just wouldn't qualify. Or 
they'd have to invest more time and money in a Muggle education first, 
which might be problematic. 

There's also the issue that if electronics and wiring and such interfere 
with magic, that it might be hard to live in the mortal world and do much 
magic on a regular basis. (We do see some examples - Arthur fixing Dudley 
from the toffee - but most of what we see are non-deliberate magicings - 
stuff Harry does when upset, not deliberately thought through stuff.) 

This brings me to someting I've been toying with as a potential solution 
for a lot of issues, including "Why don't any of these kids who come from Muggle households miss 
the technology they're accustomed to?"

My theory is that it's a paradigm difference. Perhaps, in order to have 
magic work for you, you need to have a certain attitude about how the 
world works. There's an aspect of native, inborn talent, but you also 
need to look at the world a certain way.

What if part of that worldview needed to include the fact that while you 
might not mind technology, you didn't really care about it either? In 
other words, that if you had adequate light, you didn't really care 
whether it came from electric lightbulbs or magical light or lanterns, or 
whatever? Maybe you need to be the sort of person who is at least *just* 
as easily entertained by books or Quidditch matches as by watching 
television? 

Now, that doesn't mean that kids from Muggle families might not mind doing 
those things if they happen to be available - but there are people who 
would adapt much more easily to no television or other technology than 
others. I'm quite fond of technology myself - but heck, give me the 
opportunity to be somewhere like Hogwarts, and I'd just as cheerfully be 
reading or exploring or whatever as playing on the computer. 

And given this assumption (that it's a paradigm difference in the way
Wizards view the world and prefer to structure how they live), maybe
people who make it through Hogwarts *don't* really want to return to
living as Muggles. (with some exceptions, sure, but speaking in general
terms.)

Certainly, some of the same stresses seem to exist (concerns about money,
etc.) And certainly, there's a potential for bad things to happen. But in
the wizarding world, bad stuff tends to be a bit more predictable (unless
you happen to be the very first target of the most recent rise of Dark
Wizardry) - there doesn't seem to be much random violence (muggings,
street crime, burgalry) or other unpleasantness. There are dangerous
critters and dark wizards - but they're a bit easier to identify than
comparable hazards in the Muggle world, and less likely to intrude on your 
life without any warning. 

Now, none of this really addresses the economic issues, of course. 
However, we've got a bunch of options. 

One is a much higher of inheritable wealth combined with a lower level of
potential costs (brooms are probably cheaper than
car+insurance+gas/petrol, for example; house elves and/or magic make
housekeeping easier).

One is that there may be lower expenses in general ways (the Weasleys
obviously have a hard time keeping all their kids supplied with new
things, but food is always abundantly described, housing might be handed
down from family to family, and so on.)

One is a higher taxation on those who do work - and a structure where a 
lot of the research and analysis that might take place in a 
non-governmental structure in the Muggle world is instead part of the 
Ministry of Magic (thereby employing many more people than would strictly 
be needed for governenence). 

Or perhaps it's possible, if you don't have children or extravagent
desires, to get by as a wizard on a small stipend from the MoM. If you do
have children or want luxury items, you'd need inherited wealth or a job -
but if you're content just to potter around a cottage, brew the
occaisional potion, and read Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet, then you
don't need a whole lot of income, if your housing isn't costing you much,
you don't have things like car payments, and so on.

It's also possible that some do cottage industry work - hand sewing robes, 
for example, or magically doing the equivalent - which is then distributed 
through the shops. (Ditto for potions, candy, and so on.) 

I can see a number of viable options which don't presume the same sort of 
economy as the Muggle world - but which might well be sufficient to 
support a relatively small population. 

We also have this sort of curious issue of Gringotts going out and
*looking* for more treasure. You'd think, if they were just a bank, that
they'd actually avoid doing that (it doesn't make a whole lot of sense
using Muggle economic models, to me, anyway) However, if the money is,
instead, going into a distribution system (X amount of any treasure found
goes into the stipend pot for unemployed wizards, say) it makes more sense
for them to be encouraged to go find more treasure.

Anyway - I think there are solutions which are more complex than "There 
aren't enough jobs to support everyone..." 

-Jenett, done rambling.