Value and Money as Social Power: New Concepts for Old Questions

Journal article: The individualistic methodology that largely dominates economic thought is incapable of thinking of social facts as anything other than the aggregation of individual facts. In so doing, it ignores the powerful sui generis forces that emanate from the social sphere itself and that shape individual behaviour and subjectivity. Moral, aesthetic, and religious values are the paradigmatic illustration of this. But economic value is also a force of this nature. It cannot be identified with a substance, be it utility or labour. This new perspective provides the economist with new tools for thinking about what a monetary community is. In so doing, it lays the foundations for a renewed dialogue with the social sciences in general and sociology in particular.

Author(s)

André Orléan

Journal
  • Review of Political Economy
Date of publication
  • 2023
Keywords JEL
A1 B52 B55 E40
Keywords
  • Money
  • Monetary theory
  • Monetary community
  • Value
  • Social power
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 35