An anthropology of money : a critical introduction /
Tim Di Muzio and Richard H. Robbins.
- ix, 139 pages ; 27 cm.
- Routledge series for creative teaching and learning in anthropology .
Tim Di Muzio is Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry at the University of Wollongong.
Richard H. Robbins is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Anthropology at SUNY at Plattsburgh.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Preface -- Introduction: the confusion over money -- Theory, history and money -- Modern money : credit money and the consequences -- The future of money and its possibilities -- Bibliography -- Index.
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? The authors demonstrate how modern money requires perpetual growth, an increase in inequality, environmental devastation, increasing commoditization, 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.