ABSTRACT
A fuller appreciation of the role of money in market economies requires some discussion of the notion of ‘money fetishism’, which signals the reification of money at the expense of understanding how money is interwoven with other value components. Money fetishism leads to an over-concentration on aspects based on market rationality and economic cost/value calculations. This leads to the neglect of other modes of strategising and managing livelihoods and enterprise. Even though commodity networks are geared to the supply of goods and services, and prices and capital assets are represented in denominations of money, the organisation of production, trade and market transactions necessarily entails the combining of skills, knowledge, social relations and discursive practices. These various social factors are of critical significance for creating viable organisational solutions and for shaping economic performance. This remains true even when labourers, farmers, traders, distributors, retailers and consumers frame their activities and decision-making in terms of the maximisation of economic goals and benefits, which they measure or evaluate in monetary or quasi-monetary terms.
