Social and Psychological Value of Money - Social Value of Money

Social Value of Money

When many people produced and converted the results of their work into money, society discovered that the greater exchange of energies made possible by money made the collective stronger, more secure, more productive and more prosperous. Money encouraged people to work harder, cooperate and coordinate their efforts. Like the use of a common language, money helped forge a sense of community among people who had no personal knowledge of one another. It bound larger populations together in cooperative enterprise and exchange, forging separate individuals into an organized social collective.

As society came to recognize the value of money for its own survival, growth and development, it introduced rules and organizations to support the creation and maintenance of money – standardized forms of money, laws governing who could create it, mints to produce it, banks to store and loan it. These social organizations arose because money acquired value for the society as a whole, as well as for its individual members. The organization of money by society converted the force of individual transactions into a productive power that can accomplish anything the collective is capable of.

To reinforce the social value of money, society accorded status and prestige to those who produced, possessed and accumulated it, since by so doing they contributed to the overall welfare of the collective. Thus, money became a major determinant of the relative importance and privilege of different classes of people in society and a power beyond the economic sphere of activity. Money acquired political influence and power over the decisions of governments.

As the individual learned to value money as a medium that facilitates transactions with other individuals to meet personal needs, society learned to value money as a means for fostering the overall development of the collective. The society’s subconscious recognition of the value of money matured as an emotional endorsement of money by the collective culture, which was then internalized in the value system of its individual members. ‘’’Money became a symbol for the survival, growth and development of society and for the evolutionary energy that urged its to continuous progress.’’’

To reinforce the social value of money, society accorded status and prestige to those who produced, possessed and accumulated it, since by so doing they contributed to the overall welfare of the collective. Thus, money became a major determinant of the relative importance and privilege of different classes of people in society and a power beyond the economic sphere of activity. Today the wealthy gain entry into the highest echelons of society and command enormous political power. Yet money did not always possess the social value that it does now. In Pre-revolutionary France, the political and social value of money was quite limited. Historian Will Durant relates the story of a wealthy French banker’s wife who was invited to a party of aristocratic women in Paris but when dinner is served, she was asked to eat in the kitchen.