Money serves transcendent death goals beyond rational economic exchange.
Evidence
Traditional economists assume that money was originally created, and still serves, only to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. As the Nobel economist Paul Krugman depicts this view, “The hypothetical Economic Man knows what he wants [and] his choices are driven by rational calculations…whether consumers are deciding between corn flakes or shredded wheat, or investors are deciding between stocks and bonds.” From this perspective, all economic activity, and human behavior in general, results from considering the costs and benefits (although not always consciously) of existing options and choosing the best—that is, the most useful—alternative. However, we humans behave like Homo economicus only on occasion, and this über-rational conception of money and consumption does not tell the whole story, for money serves an archetypal role in human ritual and religion in direct service of transcending death. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 432
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to my annotations on social capital/trust literature where economic behavior is embedded in social relations rather than pure rational calculation. — connects to: Money carries multiple frames of value beyond its economic function — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 386
Related
- Money carries multiple frames of value beyond its economic function (similarity 0.82)
- Money erases qualitative distinctions by reducing everything to quantity (similarity 0.78)