{"product_id":"the-social-meaning-of-money-9780465078912","title":"The Social Meaning Of Money","description":"\u003cp\u003eA dollar is a dollar is a dollar - or so most of us believe. Indeed  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 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. The Social Meaning of Money shows that people everywhere are constantly creating different kinds of money-gift certificates  Christmas savings accounts  food stamps  and other kinds of vouchers. \"People segregate  differentiate  label  decorate  and particularize money to meet their complex social needs \" the author writes. Zelizer  a distinguished social scientist and prizewinning author  offers the first full treatment in nearly a century of what money does for us - and to us. Drawing on materials as varied as court cases  books on etiquette  immigrant guides  vaudeville scripts  instruction manuals for charity workers  and household budget studies  The Social Meaning of Money explores in fascinating detail why dollars spent on gifts  household necessities  charity  and welfare are not the same  and what this means for business  for public policy  and for all of us. Focusing on changes in the public and private uses of money in the United States between the 1870s and the 1930s  the book concentrates on domestic transactions  gifts  and welfare payments. This intriguing analysis of how spending and saving take place in each of these arenas is not only a brilliant treatment of what money means in everyday life but also a challenging new exploration of large-scale economic issues.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651897876533,"sku":"ByrdShop_0465078915","price":571.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780465078912.jpg?v=1781844411","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-social-meaning-of-money-9780465078912","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}