Description
Book SynopsisAn introduction to the sociology of money, foregrounding how money embodies social relations
Trade Review'An extremely knowledgeable account of existing theories of money'
-- Jens Beckert, author of Imagined 'Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics' (Harvard University Press, 2016)
'A well-argued exploration of the history and nature of money ... Thorough and comprehensive'
-- Mary Mellor, author of Money: Myths, Truths and Alternatives (Policy Press, 2019)
Table of ContentsPreface
1. Economic Theories of Money – and Their Critiques
1.1. Barter, Exchange and Money
1.2. Objective versus Subjective Theories of Value
1.3. The Improbability of Exchange
2. Money’s Unlikely Origins
2.1. Gift-exchange and ceremonial monies
2.2. Money and (the End of) Violence
2.3. Economies of Sacrifice
2.4. Secrets of the Coin
3. Money and Finance
3.1. Time and Money
3.2. The Logic of Financial Markets
4. The Politics of Money
4.1. The Foundations and Fundamental Problems of Contemporary Money
4.2. Private Monies (or Bitcoin)
4.3. Sovereign Money
4.4. Central Bank Independence and the Inescapable Politicality of Money
5. Money and Society
5.1. Alienation and Freedom
5.2. Money and Functional Differentiation
References
Index
