On social currencies and human economies: some notes on the violence of equivalence – David Graeber
David Graeberdavidgraeber.org
On social currencies and human economies: some notes on the violence of equivalence – David Graeber
The criminalization of debt, then, was the criminalization of the very basis of human society.
David Graeber • Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded
To put the matter crudely: if one relegates a certain social space simply to the selfish acquisition of material things, it is almost inevitable that soon someone else will come to set aside another domain in which to preach that, from the perspective of ultimate values, material things are unimportant, that selfishness—or even the self—are illusor
... See moreDavid Graeber • Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded
“Money is not created to earn money.” In fact, he says, “in relation to other goods, dirhams and dinars are like prepositions in a sentence,” words that, as the grammarians inform us, are used to give meaning to other words, but can only do so because they have no meaning in themselves.
David Graeber • Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded
The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity. A gift economy nurtures the community bonds which enhance mutual well-being; the economic unit is “we” rather than “I,” as all flourishing is mutual.