On the Underdevelopment of the 'Sociology of Money'

Abstract

As a result of the division of intellectual labour that followed the Methodenstreit in the social sciences, sociology neglected the analysis of the social production of money and has concentrated instead on its social effects or social meanings. Moreover, sociology tacitly endorsed the flawed conception of money as a 'veil' masking either the 'real' economy or the 'social relations' of production. Building on the approach of the 'historical school' of economics and Keynes and the post-Keynesians, an alternative theory of money, seen as primarily abstract money of account, is outlined. With this approach it is possible to develop an explanation for the development of capitalism's distinctive form of bank and state credit-money. Sociology should recover intellectual responsibility for the analysis of monetary phenomena such as inflation, interest rate determination, etc., as the outcome of economic conflict grounded in price-setting struggles.

Alleviating poverty or reinforcing inequality? Interpreting micro‐finance in practice, with illustrations from rural China

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Money in Capitalism or Capitalist Money?

“…Others outside Marxism, such as Geoffrey Ingham, share the aspiration for a theory of money-in-general, and criticise Zelizer's argument of 'multiple monies', but, at this point, invoke a refutation of a theory of money grounded in the labour theory of value. See Ingham 1998, and. 19 Fine and Lapavitsas 2000, pp.…”

Sociologia econômica: hoje e amanhã

“…Geoffrey Ingham, Nigel Dodd e alguns outros especialistas na Inglaterra, por exemplo, tentaram enxergar o dinheiro de uma perspectiva sociológica (cf. Dodd, 1994;Ingham, 1998Ingham, , 2004. Patrik Aspers empreendeu um estudo fascinante do mercado para a fotografia de moda na Suécia, e Olav Velthuis fez trabalho análogo sobre o mercado de arte na Holanda (cf.…”