Society has already fallen apart with money. Just look around.
For those skeptical that a society couldn't really function without money motivation, there is empirical evidence that there is a human motivation productively better than money motivation. Anybody who listens to their heart knows this. But, for us when we find ourselves so removed from knowing our own hearts that we need scientific evidence, here it is:
In his book, Predictably Irrational: the Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, Dan Ariely (Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University) speaks of an experiment he conducted with three groups of students at computer screens, each group unknown to the others:"In this experiment, the task was to drag the circle, using the computer mouse, onto the square.
. . . . We measured how many circles they dragged within five minutes."
For this task,
The first group was paid $5 per circle dragged into the square.
The second group was paid 50 cents or 10 cents per circle.
The third group was paid nothing. They were told it was a "social request", merely a favor asked.
"...those who received five dollars dragged an average of 159 circles, and those who received 50 cents dragged an average of 101 circles. As expected, more money caused our participants to be more motivated and work harder (by about 50 percent).
"What about the condition with no money? Did these participants work less than the ones who got the low monetary payment - or, in the absence of money, did they apply social norms to the situation and work harder? The results showed that on average they dragged 168 circles, much more than those who were paid 50 cents, and just slightly more than those who were paid five dollars. In other words, our participants worked harder under the non-monetary social norms than for the almighty buck (okay, fifty cents)." [p. 78-79]
NEW! 2/27/14
More empirical evidence!
I just discovered this video on the internet, and it thrills me to no end.
RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us:
Dan Ariely