The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies

Research output: Book/ReportBook

140 Scopus citations

Abstract

A dollar is a dollar—or so most of us believe. Indeed, it is part of the ideology of our time that money is a single, impersonal instrument that impoverishes social life by reducing relations to cold, hard cash. After all, it’s just money. Or is it? Distinguished social scientist and prize-winning author Viviana Zelizer argues against this conventional wisdom. She shows how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise varying the process by which spending and saving takes place. Zelizer concentrates on domestic transactions, bestowals of gifts and charitable donations in order to show how individuals, families, governments, and businesses have all prescribed social meaning to money in ways previously unimagined.

Original languageEnglish (US)
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Number of pages300
ISBN (Electronic)9780691237008
ISBN (Print)9780691176031
StatePublished - Jan 1 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Economics, Econometrics and Finance
  • General Business, Management and Accounting
  • General Social Sciences

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