An Anthropology of Money

An Anthropology of Money: A Critical Introduction shows how our present monetary system was imposed by elites and how they benefit from it.

The book poses the question: how, by looking at different forms of money, can we appreciate that they have different effects? Richard Robbins and me demonstrate how modern money requires perpetual growth, an increase in inequality, environmental devastation, increasing commoditisation, and, consequently, the perpetual consumption of ever more stuff. These are not intrinsic features of money, but, rather, of debt-money.

This text shows that, through studying money in other cultures, we can have money that better serves the broader goals of society.

Author: Tim Di Muzio

Tim Di Muzio is an Associate Professor in International Relations and Global Political Economy in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His research focuses on issues of social and environmental justice from a critical political economy perspective.

Value Par Excellence: Money versus Real Values

The Past & Present Reading Group is discussing, in the first half of 2024, Karl Marx’s Grundrisse. This work is often considered a crucial read to grasp Marx’s methods of analy...

Real valuism and political economy

I find the constant coining of new terms tiresome. But in writing Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy, I felt the need to re-define my nonmarket socialist position in a more co...

‘Liquidity’, a keyword in the history of capitalism: Introduction

liquidity, n.: Econ. The interchangeability of assets and money.

Oxford English Dictionary, 2 ed. (1989).

You don’t anywhere come right out in the open and say ...

Launch of Money: A Feminist Issue

Join Australian Feminist Studies (AFS) and the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney for the launch of AFS’ special issue on ‘Money...