Money mesmerises and mystifies

The world of money is making people go round, as households and organisations have to deal with everchanging economies and payment systems like bitcoin and Applepay. You may ask what is money and how dow we make any sense of it? Three eminent Sociologists Nina Bandelj, Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer, edited Money Talks, and offer a wide range of alternative and surprising explanations of how social relations, emotions, moral concerns and institutions shape how we creat, mark and use money, its origins, uses, effects and future.This book consists of essays originally presented for the 20^th anniversary of Viviana Zelizer’s The Social Meaning of Moneyn (1994),

explaining that all money is not the same and it needs further consideration today as law and economics are premised on the idea that money is “fungable, meaning an interchangeable quantity without qualities, if £10 is borrowed , you do not have to repay with the same note, but if you borrow a book you have to return the same book.

 People treat money received as a gift and regular salaries differently. Drug dealers in Money Talks feels uncomfortable putting that money into the church collection plate.

 Money Talks central message that the management and regulation of money should not be left to economists or bankers alone.

 Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works edited by Nina Bandelj, Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer, Princeston University Press £37.95/ $45, 288 pages.