Classic works in anthropology and sociology have essentialized formal capitalist credit and their alternative forms, be they community-based or informal. The financiarization of everyday life has produced the return to this one-sided narratives. My aim in this article is to show how the moral dimension of financial practices does not represent the flip side of capitalist institutions. The economization of morality is a transaction that takes place not only along the margins but also at the heart of financial practices. A moral sociology of money becomes increasingly necessary as the financialization of the everyday life develops. I use ethnographic data that I collected between 2006 and 2011 during my fieldwork in the slums of Buenos Aires. I attempted to understand the growing role and the multiple forms of credit and debt in the economy of the poor. My ethnographic reconstruction is guided by a conceptual foundation that allows for an anti-essentialist interpretation of the moral dimension of credit and debt. In this article I propose considering the concept of moral capital as a kind of guarantee together with other kinds of capital such as economic or legal capital.My argument seeks to de-essentialize the opposition between informal and community-based systems and the so-called capitalist systems, revealing their continuity through the rules that must be complied with in order to accumulate moral capital as a way to access credit and pay off debts. The hypothesis that moral capital multiplies economic capital suggests that there are differentiations and inequalities that not only regulate borrowers but also allow them to be distinguished individually.The financialization of the economy is translated into a space for moral distinction that provides an outline for a new topography of the moral antagonism in the economic life.
ResumenEste artículo analiza la conformación de una nueva infraestructura monetaria del mundo popular. Muestra el rol creciente del dinero en estos sectores y se pregunta sobre las nuevas formas de integración social que estos cambios suponen. Aborda estos cambios desde una sociología moral del dinero. Utiliza materiales empíricos de un trabajo de campo en las barriadas de la periferia de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires entre 2006 y 2010.Palabras clave: dinero, moral, clases populares, sociología económica. Abstract Moral sociology of money in the life of poorThis article analyzes the conformation of a new monetary infrastructure in the life of poor. It shows the increasing role of the money in these sectors and the new forms of social integration that these changes suppose. It approaches these changes from a moral sociology of money. It uses empirical materials of a fieldwork in the slums of the City of Buenos Aires between 2006 and 2010.
A literatura sobre filantropia aponta para a "mercantilização" das doações 1 como um dos traços mais importantes das transformações recentes desse universo organizativo. Ao assimilarem cada vez mais as técnicas do marketing e da comunicação pública, as organizações filantrópicas realizam atualmente campanhas para vender um produto com o objetivo de arrecadar dinheiro para a causa que perseguem. Estas transformações são particularmente interessantes para que se reflita sobre a natureza das fronteiras entre as "transações mercantis" e as "circulações de dons" 2 e, em especial, sobre o papel do dinheiro para marcar estes limites. Algumas perguntas se colocam: a monetarização crescente das transferências filantrópicas supõe a invasão das "transações mercantis" no universo das doações a ponto de eliminar a especificidade destas últimas?3 Ou, ao contrário, este processo responde à criação de "moedas especiais" (Zelizer 1989(Zelizer , 2005a) em que estão em jogo práticas, interações e rituais que marcam o dinheiro de origem filantrópica, atribuindo-lhe uma qualidade social sui generis? 4 A relação entre dinheiro e dom pode ser ao menos rastreada nas diferentes posições de Malinowski (1986) e Mauss (1997) a respeito do uso da noção de moeda para denominar os objetos que circulam no Kula. Diferente de Malinowski, que rejeitava esta denominação, Mauss argumentava que os objetos "pessoais" ou "subjetivos" que circulavam entre os trobriandeses podiam ser denominados de moeda. Segundo Bloch (1989), esta distância em relação a Malinowski posiciona Mauss num terreno onde não existe uma distinção analítica clara entre o dinheiro e os objetos da troca de dons. Esta perspectiva, que não deixa de estar marcada pela imprecisão, 5 tem a vantagem de nos obrigar a ter precauções em relação às teses que excluem necessariamente o dinheiro de determinados vínculos sociais ou esferas da troca. As teses que opõem "transações mercantis" e "circulações de dons" -
This article aims to show that multiple currencies and multiple monetary functions can embody the ideas and practices of money's reality. We explore the multiple reality of money through the effects of the currency exchange restrictions implemented in Argentina in 2011-2015. Based on a fieldwork conducted between 2014 and 2015 in the cities of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe we describe uses and meanings of multiple currencies on two specific markets (real estate and soybean production). In these two cases, beside the long term use of US dollar for different transactions, the creation of new currencies rely on the definition of what is considered "real" in each universe (for instance, soy producers who take the "soybean" as the unit of account and store of value or real estate developers who use "square meters" as a unit of account). The two cases we present here provide insight on the connections between dynamic currency pluralism, the temporality of transactions and the experiences of money's reality.A few months after Camila passed away, her children-Víctor ( 73), Santa (70), Pepe (66) and Toni (58)-decided to embark upon what would become a never-ending journey: divvying up their mother's inheritance. Camila had owned three properties: a 50 sq. mt. apartment and a duplex, all located in a suburb north of Buenos Aires. Two of her children were already living in the duplex: Santa had rented the ground floor unit for almost ten years; Pepe and his wife had recently moved upstairs. When it came time to see what theproperties were worth, the Torre siblings each called a separate real estate agent to appraise the three properties. There were no major differences in the appraisals given by the different agents, and the prices they finally agreed upon were the following: US$70,000 for the apartment; US$118,000 for the ground floor unit and US$135,000 for the top floor unit. 1 Camila had also left her children US$17,000 in savings. From the point of view of how much each sibling would get, it was simply a question of dividing the total amount to be inherited by four. In other words, assuming the three properties sold for US$340,000 plus the US$17,000 in Camila's savings, each sibling should have gotten US$85,000. Yet things did not turn out to be as simple or straightforward as this mathematical equation. Except for Toni, the youngest sibling, who expected to receive her inheritance in cash, all the others expected to get a property out of the deal. Victor wanted the apartment; Santa wanted the ground floor unit where she was already living and Pepe wanted the top floor.
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