The Moral Power of Money: Morality and Economy in the Life of the Poor
by Ariel Wilkis (Author)

About the Author
Ariel Wilkis is a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) and Co-Director of the Center for Social Studies of Economics at the National University of San Martín, Argentina.

About this book
Looking beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary social interactions, The Moral Power of Money investigates the forces of power and morality at play, particularly among the poor. Drawing on fieldwork in a slum of Buenos Aires, Ariel Wilkis argues that money is a critical symbol used to negotiate not only material possessions, but also the political, economic, class, gender, and generational bonds between people.
Through vivid accounts of the stark realities of life in Villa Olimpia, Wilkis highlights the interplay of money, morality, and power. Drawing out the theoretical implications of these stories, he proposes a new concept of moral capital based on different kinds, or "pieces," of money. Each chapter covers a different "piece"―money earned from the informal and illegal economies, money lent through family and market relations, money donated with conditional cash transfers, political money that binds politicians and their supporters, sacrificed money offered to the church, and safeguarded money used to support people facing hardships. This book builds an original theory of the moral sociology of money, providing the tools for understanding the role money plays in social life today.

Brief contents
Introduction: Money and Moral Capital 1
1 Lent Money 25
2 Earned Money 51
3 Donated Money 74
4 Political Money 93
5 Sacrificed Money 116
6 Safeguarded Money 135
Conclusion 157
Methodological Appendix 167
Notes 179
References 185
Index 197

Series: Culture and Economic Life
Pages: 224 pages
Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (December 19, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1503602869
ISBN-13: 978-1503602861