For the last 9 years, I have been making observations about money which have stayed largely private. Now and again, the product of those observations and insights see the light of day in a conference or in the creation of a new business (such as www.zopa.com), however, for the most part they have remained confidential to the commercial parties who have paid my fees.
This blog aims to start a more public (and collaborative) conversation about one of my two major topics of study – “what is money?” (the other being “What is a brand?” and which occupies an alter ego blog called ‘Chanting for Prada’.
It is the public face of a personal project to extend the scope of my commercial ethnographic work and operate more freely than the constraints of a client brief allow.
The current crisis provides a unique opportunity for a researcher, as never has understanding ‘what money is’ and the meaning it creates in everyday life been more important. Of course, behind this question is the belief that current definitions of money make unconsidered (or perhaps unconscious) assumptions about its usage and value – namely what Marx might characterize as a fetishisation of the economic ‘value’ of money over its potential and multiple roles as a social or cultural ‘thing’ in western society.
My ‘about me’ details some of my intellectual mentors and inspirations on this subject, as well as some initial thought papers – but ultimately I want to provoke new ways of thinking and ‘making’ money that perhaps will enable a more sustainable (and perhaps ethical) world of money and capital to rise from the ashes of ‘old money’.
Over the following year, I am going to be investing my own time in exploring the different meanings (and value) of money that exist in everyday life – and publishing the outputs of that deep hanging out ‘live’ – including my own and other collaborators analysis.
If anyone is interested in helping to sponsor this work, and in return have a hand in shaping the questions I look at with individuals and families in the UK and elsewhere then you can contact me at the address on the About me page.