[PDF]Money is a social practice

Money is a social practice


(Year 2021)


by Manfred Rosental


From the Money (Year 2021)


When the power of love becomes greater than the love of power, only then
will humanity understand what peace really means.


Jimi Hendrix


It is best to take a moment and realise how much of your day, your week, your year, your life is

spent earning the money you need to make a living. Most readers will spend a lot of their lives

doing this. For our own sake, we should all understand what money is all about. However, most
people are concerned about how to get money rather than how and if it works.


Money, a social practice


Can you buy a fruit from a plant with money? No.

Can you make a cloud rain with money? No.

Does a cow give milk for money, or does a chicken lay eggs for money? No.
Does Mother Earth give her mineral resources for money? No.


| could continue the list without finding anything - nature knows no money. She feeds everyone

unconditionally, without payment. No creature, except us humans, uses money for exchange. So
with money we are dealing with something that only has meaning between people, and only as

long as they accept it in their dealings with each other. That is why | call money a social practice.
And as such, it is just a way we deal with each other. It is not a thing, but a doing.


If one becomes deeply aware of this, it has far-reaching effects. The coins and banknotes we hold
in our hands have no value of their own. We ourselves give them their value through their use. It is
a circular process. And, since money is a social practice, anything can become money.


Examples of types of money


Some examples of types of money are:
e Natural currencies e.g.:
Cocoa beans, egg money, shell money (Kauri shells), grain, etc.
e Metal-backed currencies e.g.:
Gold, silver, copper, etc.
¢ Currencies without interest e.g.:
In Islamic countries, regional currencies and barter rings.
¢ Currencies with interest,


the most widespread form today


e Free money (Freigeld) according to Silvio Gesell,
in a few exchange rings
¢ Digital currencies,
Bitcoin etc.
Each of these types of money follows its own laws.


As you can see from the above list, many things can become money - from plant seeds to
computer software. This is once again proof that money is a social practice and therefore as
flexible as we are. We could shape it however we want.


Today‘s money brings out the bad in people


Everything in this world is subject to coming into being, existing and passing away. Only with
money do we desire the preservation of value, want to prevent the passing away, and give in to the
illusion that this is so because the numbers on the coins and banknotes remain the same. Since our
money ostensibly does not decay, we pay homage to greed, each and every one of us who uses it.
But we cannot override natural laws, and so inflation eats away at our conservation of value.


What does the use of money do to us? It is like Bertolt Brecht writes in his poem "Alfabet": "Rich
man and poor man stood there and looked at each other. And the poor man said pale: If | were not
poor, you would not be rich." Money forces us all into mutual competition, the fight of everyone
against everyone else. Those who do not want to compete are defeated. And whoever goes into
competition has to fight - and only a few can win. It is a slow cut-throat competition.


Do you really want to live in a fight against your fellow human beings, or would you rather live in
cooperation and love for each other? It is cooperation with fellow human beings that enables us to
survive on the planet. Not the fight against them.


Can we turn the tide for the better?


We could make money what we want it to be. Let's start with that and see if a turn towards better
economics emerges.


What we should strive for would be:
* no rewarding the greedy
¢ less unequal distribution
* noconstraints on growth


And if it turns out that we cannot escape greed, unequal distribution and growth constraints with
the use of differently constructed money, we abolish it altogether and introduce other distribution
structures. Because, if we continue as we are, money will bring about the demise of our almost
global money cultures. It is like cancer, which kills the body in which it grows and thus itself.


| pray that as many people as possible read this homepage and get involved in and bring about
changes in the social practice of money.


Manfred Rosental
Email:


mangero@posteo.de