Course Description

It is often said that “money makes the world go around”, but what, actually, is money? Why do we need it? How is money “created” both practically and socially?

In a moment when “money” seems to be the answer for everything, understanding the nature and social significance of money is of vital importance for making sense of the contemporary world and how we should act in it.

Covering everything from cowries to cryptocurrencies, this course examines money’s characteristics, exchange uses and values. We will investigate money’s origins, and how these inform contemporary attitudes to it. We will explore commonly-encountered economic perspectives on the functions of money for exchange, payment, storing and measuring value. We will complement this with sociological understandings of money as a “memory bank”: a system of relationships, a chain of promises, and a record of people’s transactions with one another.

By adopting a comparative perspective that considers the use of money in different countries, this course will cultivate your ability to navigate the similarities and differences between your own and other cultures. Through a range of research exercises, group discussion and sharing, you will develop a critical understanding of how money impacts upon everyday life. Using this knowledge, you will be trained to ask important questions about the future possibilities of money and its consequences for society.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Critically engage with key explanations of the functions of money from across a range of disciplinary perspective.
2. Conduct empirical analysis on monetary forms from a range of different cultural settings in order to understand their social uses and implications.
3. Critically reflect upon the social issues created by particular monetary forms and practices, and suggest how those might be addressed in the future.
4. Describe, explain and differentiate between various sociological, anthropological, economic and legal theories of money.
5. Work effectively as a group to conduct and communicate research findings.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

First semester (Wed)