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Destutt de Tracy’s value theory is examined here in its relation to work. This theory is original in that it has two concepts of value, one being natural, and the other conventional. Both are linked to work ? as any productive activity and the sole origin of any production ? but in two quite different ways. This two-value theory, which is not without its contradictions, is but one example of the general proposition of an ideology in which social conventions find their origin in the innermost part of humankind.