When did Georg Simmel publish The Philosophy of Money?
Georg Simmel published The Philosophy of Money in 1900. This work stands as his most significant contribution to economic sociology.
Georg Simmel published The Philosophy of Money in 1900. This work stands as his most significant contribution to economic sociology.
Simmel argued that people create value by making objects and then separating themselves from those creations. He viewed money not merely as a tool for trade but as a force that structures the totality of human life.
The historical shift from direct obligations to monetary payment fundamentally altered social relations. A universal currency later reconciled disparate systems into a single quantifiable metric: monetary cost.
Money creates a de facto aristocracy of the affluent through access barriers. Education remains mostly accessible only to those who afford it, reinforcing this divide.
Simmel compared his observations to Marx's theory of alienation where objects separate from people. He also aligned with Marx's concept of commodity fetishism when money becomes center around which economic systems rotate.