The social meaning of money

A ME AN ING OF MO NE Y Pin money, paychecks, poor relief, & other currencus V I V I A N A A ZE LIZ ER THE SOCIAL MEANING OF MONEY THE SOCIAL MEANING OF MONEY VIVIANA A ZELIZER BasicBooks A Member ofthe Perseus Books Group Some material from this hook has previously appeared in: "The Social Meaning of Money: Special Monies," American]oumal ofSociology95 (September 1989): 342-77; "Money," in the Encyclopedia ofSociology, ed Edgard f Borgatta and Marie L Borgatta (New York: Macmillan, 1992), pp 1304-10; and "Making Multiple Monies," in Explorations in Economic Sociology, ed Richard Swedberg (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1993), pp 193-212 Copyright© 1994 by BasicBooks, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews for information, address BasicBooks, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299 Designed by Ellen Levine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zelizer, Viviana A Rotman The social meaning of money I Viviana A Zelizer p em Includes bibliographical references (p ) ISBN 0-465-07891-5 (cloth) ISBN 0-465-07892-3 (paper) Money I Title HG22l.Z45 1994 332.4 dc20 95 96 97 98 +/RRD 93-42808 CIP For julian, my dear son CONTENTS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Marking of Money The Domestic Production of Monies 36 Gifted Money 71 Poor People's Money 119 With Strings Attached: The Earmarking of Charitable Cash 143 Contested Monies 170 What Does Money Mean? NOTES INDEX 217 273 199 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS COMPRESSING GRATITUDE into a judicious inventory of help received, favors bestowed, and obligations accumulated makes a complex array of personal ties one-dimensional It misses the rich distinctions among varieties of gratitudes, the multiple and very particular sorts of advice, encouragement, and understanding received from different individuals and organizations in the long process of writing a book Let me try to describe my many gratitudes As he has for the past two decades, Bernard Barber listened to my ideas, read each draft, and advised me in this project from its very start With infinite generosity, Charles Tilly provided indispensable commentaries at critical points Michael B Katz's work on American welfare history offered an important guide for my research on changing relief policies, as did his thoughtful comments I thank other friends and colleagues who gave varied and valuable suggestions: Jeffrey C Alexander, Sigmund Diamond, Paul DiMaggio, Susan Gal, Albert Hirschman, jenna Weissman joselit, David J Rothman, Ewa Morawska, Lo'ic Wacquant, and Eviatar Zerubavel In the past few years I discussed sections of this book in many university seminars, working groups, and conferences For helpful comments, I am grateful to members of the Russell Sage Seminar in Economic Sociology, Princeton University's Department of Sociology Workshop in Economic Sociology, the Princeton Society of Fellows of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, INDEX between social workers and recipients for control of, 171-74, 18fHW; training in money management through use of, 121, 122-24, 203; types of relief in, 121 Charitable gifts: gift money as, 113; jewish practices regarding donations, 60-61, 88, 89 Charities: advisory role of, in nineteenth century, 127-28; cash relief viewed as dangerous by, 12~31; clubs for savings organized by, 137-38; immigrants and, 120; institutional patterns in dispensing relief by, 125-26, 251nll; money allowances preferred by, 121-22; mothers' pension movement and, 145-46; regulation of use of relief by the poor and, 121, 131~2, 203; training in money-management practices provided by, 120, 152-54, 161~9 259n25; types of relief from, 121 Charities Review, 7be(joumal), 131, 133 183 "Charity girls," and prostitution, 10~ Charity Organization movement, 127-28 Charity Organization Society (COS): Buffalo, 121, 145; Newpon, Rhode Island, 137; New York, 122, 13G-31, 132, 133, 136, 138, 143, 145, 146, 150, 153, 159 161, 162, 166, 168 Charity workers: ambivalent approach to gift money of, 165~; cash relief seen as dangerous by, 128, 129-30; distinction between gift and relief used by, 134; distrust of economic choices made by poor and, 13G-31, 135, 141~2; in-kind relief and restricted transfers used by, 131-35; regulation of use of relief by the poor and, 131~2 275 203; savings of poor organized by, 132, 135-41 See also Social workers Cheal, David, 83 Chicago: fire of 1871 in, 157-58; Juvenile Protective Association of, 102; Relief and Aid Society of, 158; United Charities of, 159 Children: allowances for,~ 57 209; cash relief and consumer training for, 150; earmarking by, 202; gift money for, 72, 112; life insurance for, 266n24; mothers' pension movement and, 122, 145, 152; Penny Provident funds for, 90, 140; savings banks used by, 60, 255n54; training in gift giving for, 75 Child's wages, 3; domestic money and, 58-59, 66-67, 167; earmarking of, 5, 209; wife's handling of, 38 Christening gifts, 75, 108, 203 Christmas bonuses, 91-94 Christmas clubs, 5, 40, 75, 90, 109-11, 117, 140, 178, 209, 215 Christmas gifts, 3, 79; charitable gifts to the poor as, 122-23, 135; consumerism and buying of, 73, 74; earmarking for, 202; gift money as, 72, 76, 107, 108, 113-14, 149, 203; immigrants and, 88, 113-14; poor and, 122-23, 135, 149, 164-65; women and buying of, 87 Church notes, 15 Civil War, 13 14, 15, 30 Class: burial money and, 28-29; defining women's household money and, 44, 66; domestic monies and, 32, 38, 66, 202; gift money and, 87~; spending patterns for domestic monies and, 32, 38; wife's handling of husband's wages related to, 56 57 See also Middle class; Lipper class; Working class 276 Cleveland Associated Charities, 145, 153, 183 Clubs, 197; Christmas, 5, 40, 75, 90, 109-11,117,140,178, 209,215; Hanukkah, 110, 215; savings by the poor and, 137-38; vacation, 40, 140, 209, 215 Coal orders, 173 Cohen, Lizabeth, 213 Coins: at Hanukkah, 74; as "love tokens," 16, 72, 102, 208; as special gift money, 107, 116 Colby, Lou Eleanor, 71-72, 105, 113 Colcord, Joanna, 122, 161, 188 Coleman,james, 10,206 Coleman, Richard P., Collins, Randall, Columbus Family Services Society, 120 Commission on Relief for Widowed Mothers, 145, 155 Congress: "In God We Trust" motto and, 17, 108, 223n36; monetary standardization and, 14-1 5; right to coin money and, 16 Connecticut Daughters of the Revolution, 119 Constitution, and production of monies, 15 Consumerism: burial money and, 28, 182; cash relief and freedom of choice in, 148-49, 206; charitable currency and, 121, 123, 147, 160-61; child's wages and, 58, 66; domestic monies and, 39; earmarking in, 213; gift money and, 73, 74; lack of spending skills among poor and, 150-54, 175-76, 203; mass production and available products and, 30-31, 211; opportunities for gift buying and, 73; poor and choices in, 148-49, 168-69, 175, 1~97; socially "uplifting" choices in, 176-n; spending money as INDEX complex cultural and social activity in, 201; symbolic meanings of choices in, 211-13; training in making choices in, 161-62; useless gift giving and, 80; wife as "director" of, 151-52 Consumption: economic theory on money and, 4, 218nS; poor and rhetoric of, 168-69 Cooley, Charles H., 8-9 Counterfeiting, 15, 16 Coupons, 207-8 Courtship: etiquette books on, 99-101; expenses in, 26; "love tokens" in, 16, 72, 102,208; money gifts in, 101-5, 204 Created currencies See Invented monies Credit cards, 12, 205, 206 Cressey, Paul G., 104 Crump, Thomas, 23 Cultural matrix, and symbolic meanings of money, 23 Cushing, Ethel Frey, 79, 101 Dating See Courtship Daughters of the Revolution, Connecticut, 119 Davis, john, 77, 115 "Dead money," 108 Death money See Burial money Depanment of Agriculture, 195 Depanment of Labor, 16 Depression, 186, 187, 189 Devine, Edward T., 150, 152-53, 154, 155, 158, 175, 179 Dictionary ofEtiquette, 100 Division of labor, 12 Divorce, 37, 67 Dix, Dorothy, 49, 51 Domestic money, 33-34; allowance for wife in, 48-54; budget categories used for, 32-33, 39, 40; 277 INDEX charities and regulation of, 121; child's wages and, 58-59, 66-67; claims of wife to economic resources of, 41-42; class and use of, 32, 38, 66, 202; controversies surrounding, 37-39; courtship gifts and, 101; defining women's household money in, 43-47; division of household labor and, 68, 69; doctrine of necessaries and, 49-50; earmarking of, 5, 39-40, 201-2; "family wage" ideal in, 27; financial role of wife in, 40-41; gender roles and family structure and, 64-65, 204; gift money and, 86; husband's and child's wages handled by wife in, 38, 56-58; husband's wage as main source of, 40, 42; joint account approach to, 54-56, 61; legal issues regarding a wife's use of, 37-38; "male-provider" ideology and, 69, 237n41; market money and, 9-10; moneymanagement practices with, 24, 32; outside institutions and savings and, 39-40; payment for service differentiated from, 42, 210; as property of husband, 44, 62; as a wage, 205; ways of transferring money in, 42; wife's earnings and, 61-63, 67-69, 235n67; wife's strategies and tricks for extracting extra cash in, 42, 45-46, 47; wife's "pin money" in, 26,27,42,62 63,65-66,209 Donations of money, 26 Dorr, Rheta Childe, 5Q Dos Passos, john, 60 Douglas, Mary, 22-23,83 Earmarking, 5, 18-19, 21-25; alternate accounting systems used by relief recipients in, 171-72; budget categories used for, 32-33; burial money and, 28-29, 202, 210; child's wages and, 5; consumer goods and, 213; coun decisions on, 197-98; disputes concerning, 28; domestic money and, 5, 39-40, 60-61; gift money and, 74-75, 112, 201, 203; magazine anicles on, 32, 39, 60-61; making wise choices in, 31; monetization and, 201-4; money-management practices of the poor and, 124-25, 203-4; origins of money and, 3; persistence of, 209-1 0; physically marking monies in, 208-9; poor and, 124-25, 174-78, 204; prostitutes and, 3; reasons for, 208-11; savings by the poor and, 137; selection of amounts in, 20; social change and new forms of, 215-16; social interactions and, 25-27; spatial segregation of monies in, 209; standardization of national currency and, 17-18; struggle between social workers and recipients over, 171-74, 196-98; systems of allocation for, 209; uses of monies and, 209; wife's wages and, 63, 233n60 Earnings See Child's wages; Husband's wages; Wages; Wi'e's wages Eastern Europe, 207-8 Economic exchange, money as, 7, 22-23 Economic theory: money as intellectual construct in, 4-5; utilitarian approach to market money in, 6-12 Eichler, lillian, 76, 100 Electronic funds-transfer system, 12, 5: 206 Emergency Home Relief Bureau, 188 Engels, Friedrich, 67 278 INDEX Etiquette manuals: allowances for wives and, 48; courtship gifts and, 99-101; gift-giving instructions in, 79-80, 81-82, 107, 116; gift money and, 75-76,111-12, 116,239n8 European Community, 214 European Currency Unit (ECU), 214 Everybody s Magazine, 96 Family See Children; Husband; Wife Family money See Domestic money Family Welfare Association (FWA), 173 Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), 187 Federal government: creation of a national currency by, 13-15, 205; Social Security System and, 189-91 Federal Reserve System and, 206 Federal Security Agency, 191 Fixed prices, 12 Food orders See Grocery orders Food stamps, 4, 20, 124, 195, 197, 209 Ford Motor Company, 203 Fomm (magazine), 45, 53 Foster-care institutions, 17, 223n37 Frederick, Christine, 54 Fuel funds, 137, 197 Funds-transfer system, electronic, 12, 206 Gender: currencies and, 204; domestic money and family structure and, 64-65; gift money use and, 116-17 General Electric Credit Corporation, 206 Gerson, Kathleen, 69-70 Giddens, Anthony, 11 Gift certificates, 4, 20, 73, 76, 108-9, 114, 117, 122, 209 Gift money, 34, 85-91, 202-3; card holders for, 72, 86, 106-7; charita- ble gifts and, 113, 203; for children, 112; Christmas dubs and, 109-11; commerciali7.ation of gift giving and, 115-16; consumerism and use of, 73; courtship and, 99-105; earmarking of, 74-75, 112, 201, 203, 208-9; etiquette manuals on, 75-76, 85, 111-12, 239n8; family rule on use of, 85-86; gender patterns in, 116-17, 204; household budgets and, 74-75; immigr.mts and use of, 87-90, 113-14; invention of new currencies for, 108-9, 115-16; inJapan, 117; legal tender tr.msformed into, 105-11; magazine articles on use of, 71-72; methods of creating, 85; occasions for, 85; poor and, 122, 149, 165-66; restrictions on, 111-18; social relationships and, 82-84, 114-15, 203 210; tipping as version of, 95-96, 203; ways of disguising money as, 72-73, 105-7, 116; as wedding gift, 73, 76, 85, 111, 116; within families, 116, 249n100; as women's money, 8(H17 Gifts: bonuses as special, 91-93; degree and type of intimacy in relationship and, 81-82; etiquette manuals on giving of, 79-80, 81-82; instructions for immigr,mts on, 75-76; market exchange and, 77-79; personalized goods as, 80-81, 116; range of goods given as, 76; ritual events and giving of, 107-8; training of children in giving of, 75; useless giving and, 80 See also Christmas gifts; Gift money; Holiday gifts; Jewish holiday gifts Gillin, John Lewis, 151 Gold, and national currency, 13, 14 Gold coins: as gifts for children, 72; private issue of, 15; as special INDEX gift money, 107, 116 Gold Standard Act, 14 Good Housekeeping (magazine), 45, 50, 52 Government, and creation of a national currency, 13-15 Greenbacks, 13-14, 221n29 Greeting-card companies, money holders from, 72, 1~7 Grocery orders, 120, 121, 124, 128, 142, 191; cash relief combined with, 146; conversion to cash of, 134-35; as less favored form of relief, 149; market innovations and, 207-8; modifications to contents of, 173; restrictions on relief through use of, 131, 133, 150-52 Gurteen, S Humphreys, 130, 136 Habermas, jurgen, 2, 11 Hallmark, 107 Hamilton, Gordon, 169 Hamilton, james H., 148 Handbooks See Etiquette manuals; Social work manuals Handel, Gerald, Hanukkah gifts, 3, 74, 88, 110, 212, 21; Hard, William, 156 Harkavy, Alexander, 75 Harper's Bazar(magazine), 41, 62, 82,86-87 Harper's Monthly Magazine, 55, 96 Harper's Weekly (magazine), 48, 50 Heinze, Andrew, 212 Herzfeld, Elsa, 45, 58 Hirschman, Albert 0., Hochschild, Arlie, 68 Hoey, jane M., 189 Holiday gifts: gift-giving rituals and, 73-74; money as, 72 See also Christmas gifts; jewish holiday gifts Holt, Hamilton, 97 279 Home-economics specialists: domestic money and, 39, 42, 61, 65, 205; earmarking recommendations of, 39; gift money and, 76; moneymanagement practices of the poor and, 124,153-54, 162,259n25; training of children in gift giving and, 75 Hopkins, Harry, 187 Horowitz, Daniel, 32-33, 176 Household money See Domestic money Howe, Irving, 181 Humphrey, Caroline, 207 Husband: allowance for, from domestic money, 56-61; division of household labor and, 68, 69; doctrine of necessaries and, 49-50; domestic money as property of, 44, 62; earmarking by, 202; gift money from, 106; reactions to allowances for wives by, 51-52; strategies and tricks of wife for extracting extra cash from, 42, 45-46,47 Husband's wages, 3; domestic money dependent on, 40, 42; "family wage" ideal and, 27; wife's handling of, 38, 56-58 Immigrants: advice in magazines for, 32; budget plans used by, 120; burial monies and, 89; cash relief for, 129, 159; etiquette instructions on gift giving for, 75-76; gift-giving rituals and holidays of, 73-74; gift money and, 87-89, 113-14; lack of spending skills among poor and, 151-52, 175-76;moneymanagement practices among, 32, 119-20; postal savings banks and, 140-41, 256nS8; symbolic meanings of consumer choices of, 212 280 Income See Child's wages; Husband's wages; Wages; Wife's wages Independent, 7be (magazine), 97 Indoor relief, 121 Inflation, 208 In-kind relief, 121; compensating relief work with, 132; Depression and use of, 186-87; as less favored method of relief, 144; nineteenth century preference tor, 127; regulation of poor by use of, 131, 132-33; Social Security payments and, 191, 195 Innovation, and markets, 207-8 Installment buying, 12 Insurance: children's, 266n24; mothers' pensions different from, 156 See also Burial money International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Invented monies, 4, 20, 25-30, 206; computers and, 215; different systems of payments and, 27-28; as gift money, 108-9; social interactions and earmarking and, 2>-27, 201-2 Isherwood, Baron, 83 Italy, immigrants from, 119-20 jackson, Andrew, 15 japan, gift money in, 117 jensen, joan, 62 jewish Daily Forward (newspaper), 89 jewish holiday gifts: gift money for, 88-90, 114; Hanukkah clubs for, 110; immigrants and opportunities for, 73-74, 212 jews: burial money and, 181; charity donations from, 60-61; symbolic meanings of consumer choices of, 212-13 jones, Alice Hanson, 220n24 joselit, jenna Weissman, 74, 212-13 INDEX Journal of Home Economics, 51 J.P Morgan & Co., 92 juvenile Protective Association, 102 Kahn, Dorothy, 187 Katz, Michael B., 125, 251nll Kessler-Harris, Alice, 27 Kurtzman, joel, 206 Kyrk, Hazel, 31, 148, 250n7 Labor Department, 16 Lacasse, Lorenzo, 59 Ladies' Home]oumal(magazine), 47, 48-49.52,55,61,71-72,76,84, 106, 113 Lane, Robert E., 25 Laundering of money, Lave,jean, 5, 24,67 Law Quarterly Retliew, 7be (joumal), 96 Laws and legislation: cash relief prohibited under, 126-27, 128-29; creation of a national currency and, 13-14; form of wages under, 16; grocery orders regulated by, 133; production of moneys and, 15-16; wife's use of domestic monies and, 37-38 Lee, joseph, 137, 148 Legal Aid Society, New York, 51 Leslie, Eliza, 81 Life insurance: children's, 266n24; mothers' pensions different from, 156 "'Liquor money," 131 living Age, 7be (magazine), 80 "Love tokens," 16, 72, 102, 208 Luo people, 23-24 Lynd, Helen Merrell, 55, 61 Lynd, Robert,40, 55,61 281 INDEX Macy's, 122 Magazines: allowances for wives and, 48-49, 50-51, 52; domestic money issues in, 37, 55; earmarking practices discussed in, 32, 39, 60-61; gift money articles in, 71-72, 105 See also specific magazines Mail-order catalogues, 12 Management of money: cash relief and, 147; immigrants and, 32, 119-20; money allowances and, 121, 122-23; savings among the poor and, 140; training from charitable organizations in, 120, 152-54, 161-69 259n25 Manuals See Etiquette manuals; Social work manuals Marcus, Grace, 168 Marker, money as, 22 Market money: creation of, 13-18; domestic money and, 9-10; as economic exchange, 7; gift giving and, 77-79; social organization UG), 80 Society for the Promotion of Useful Giving (SPUG), 113 Sociology, on market money, 10-11 Sorokin, Pitirim A., Soviet Union, 207 Special monies, 21-22, 23 24 Spectator (journal), 85 SPUG, 80, 113 Stansell, Christine, 38 State agencies: federctl assistance pay- Tender, Leslie, 57 Thanksgiving dinner baskets, 134, 146 Thomas, W I., 22, 183 Thurow Lester, 196 Tiffany's, 116 Time-payment phms, 12 Tips, 26, 94-98, 209; controversy over, 94-96; as payments for service received, 98; social interaction in, 94, 96-98, 203; women and, 102 Token monies, 4, 20, 26, 195, 224n39; church use of, 15; earmarking and, 29; "love tokens" in courtship as romantic, 16, 72, 102, 208; payments to prostitutes with, 102; persistence of, 209; wages paid in, 16 TrJining in management of money, 120, 203; budget system in, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167-68; burial money use and, 183-84; cash relief and consumer choices and, 147, 148-50; consumer choices in, 161-62; gift giving by children and, 75; internal division of family monies and, 166-67; money allowance as a tool for, 121, 122-24; printed document-; for, 162-63; savings among the-poor and, 140; social workers and, 152-54, 161-69, 259tt2S Travelers' checks, 12, 206 INDEX Treasury Department, 13 Tucker, Frank, 1~51 Unemployment relief, 130, 146 United Charities, Chicago, 159 United Hebrew Charities of New York (UHC), 144, 181 Upper class: allowances for wives and, 51-52; defining women's household money in, 44; wife's str.ttegies and tricks for extracting extra cash in, 46 Vacation clubs, 40, 140, 209, 215 Veblen, Thorstein, 4, 211 Veterans, pensions for, 157 Virginia Law Register (journal), 98 Wages: cash relief differentiated from, 123, 124, 129-30, 132, 205; Christmas bonuses as, 92-94; domestic money as, 205; mothers' pension differentiated from, 156; profitsharing plans and, 92, 203; scrip and tokens used as, 16; social interactions and earmarking of, 26, 27 See also Child's wages; Husband's wages; Wife's wages Ward, Mrs H 0., 79 Warner,AJnos, 135,150 Weber, Max, 6, 8, 234n64 Wedding gifts, 3, 26, 75, 107-8, 202; etiquette manuals on, 79-80,81, 116; gift money as, 72, 73, 76, 85, 111, 116, 203 Welfare Association, Minneapolis, 165 Welfare payments, 26 Western Union, 72 White, Harrison, 207 Whyte, William F., 217n4 Wiebe, Robert, 200 285 Wife: allowance for, from domestic money, ~54; claims to economic resources of, 41-42; as "director" of consumption, 151-52; earmarking by, 202; financial role of, 40-41, 204; gift money from, 105-6; husband's and child's wages handled by, 38, 56-58, 204; lack of spending skills among, 1~54, 175-76; legal issues regarding domestic money use by, 37-38; money for personal recreation of, 59-00; social workers as consumer collabor.ltors with, tn-78; strategies and tricks for extracting extra cash by, 42, 45-46, 47 Wife's wages, 3, 61-63, 67-69, 235 n67; allowance from husband as, ;2-53, 54; Christmas gift buying with, 87; di\·ision of household labor and, 68, 69; earmarking of, 5, 63, 233n60; legal issues regarding, 38; pin money and, 26, 27, 42, 62-63, 65-66, 209; as property of husband, 62; social interactions and designation of, 26, 27 Winslow, Emma, 122, 143, 162, 166, 168 Wolfe, Alan, 215 Woman :S Home Companion (magazine), 39, 44, 63, 93 Women: financial role of, 204; gift money as property of, 86-87; savings banks used by, 255n54; seasonal work and Christmas gift buying by, 87; tipping of, 102; as working-class gift givers, 90 See also Wife; Wife's wages Woolworth's, 12, 93 Working class: budget categories used by, 33; courtship gifts in, 103; defining women's household money in, 44, 61, 66; gift money and, 87-88, 90; spending patterns 286 Working class (continued) for domestic monies and, 32, 38; wife's handling of husband's wages in, 56-57; wife's personal recreation money in, 60 Workmen's Compensation Act, 98 INDEX Yap Island, 21 Yellowbacks, 13 Yezierska, Anzia, 60-61 Young, Michael, 43 Znaniecki, Florian, 22, 183 LaVergne, TN USA 01 July2010 188115LVOOOOIB/38/A llllllllllllllllllllllllll 780465 078929 SOCIOLOGY A dollar is a dollar-or so most of us believe lndeed, it is part of the ideology of our time that money is a single, impersonal instrument that impoverishes social life by reducing social relations to cold, hard cash Arguing against this conventional wisdom, Viviana A Zelizer, a distinguished social scientist and prizewinning author, shows how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise varying the process by which spending and saving takes place "Viviana A Zelizer has written an interesting and informative book showing that there is much more to the meaning of money than economic theory and its formidable equations ever imply Money is a medium of exchange But that is only the beginning." - J HN K E ETH GALBRAITH, New York Times Book Review "Viviana Zelizer has a genius for detecting hidden order in everyday practices Gently but firmly she uses her discoveries to overturn widespread beliefs in the power of money to corrupt standardize, and depersonalize social ties Best of all, she writes of these complex matters with grace, -CH RLES TILLY, Dire tor, Center lucidity, wit and humanity." for Studie of ocial Chang , N Sch ol ~ r Social Re earch "A wonderfully enterprising journey through the roles played by money in consumer life and culture in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century ln titute f"; r Advan ed Study - ALBERT HrR HM America." "Superbly written and vividly illustrated with original and theoretically pertinent archival material and vignettes, The Social Meaning of Money is a model of rigorous and innovative scholarship, not only for economic - PIERRE Bo RDrE , sociology but for all of the social sciences." oil g d France VJVI A A A Z EU ZE R is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Princeton University She is also the author of Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children, winner of the C Wright Mills Award, and Morals and Markets: The Development of Life Insurance in the United States ISBN 0-465-07892-3 ER D IG BY JANET HAL ER 780465 078929 .. .THE SOCIAL MEANING OF MONEY THE SOCIAL MEANING OF MONEY VIVIANA A ZELIZER BasicBooks A Member ofthe Perseus Books Group Some material from this hook has previously appeared in: "The Social Meaning. .. mistaken views of money? THE SOCIAL MEANING OF MONEY MARKET MONEY: A UTILITARIAN APPROACH Monetization -the increase in the proportion of all goods and services bought and sold by means of money- has... but not THE SOCIAl MEANING OF MONEY "what and how." Or as Gertrude Stein put it more succinctly a few decades later, "Whether you like it or whether you not money is money and that is all there