this is either a nitpick about language or a sweeping statement about humanity (let the reader decide), but as I see it, it's unhelpful to posit a dichotomy bet

this is either a nitpick about language or a sweeping statement about humanity (let the reader decide), but as I see it, it's unhelpful to posit a dichotomy between "society" and "family". A parent caring for children _is_ contributing to society - society is made of people, and those people don't spring fully-formed from anyone's head! I don't really disagree with the main point of your comment, but I think this distinction is artificial. Perhaps what we're looking for is a way to communicate about the way that different types of work "feel" to the person working, and because we haven't developed our language as well as we'd like, we fall back to reductionistic concepts that perpetuate confusion about the 'goal' of human endeavor; particularly, the idea that "society-oriented" things are somehow intrinsically more valuable/important than "family-oriented" things.