ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the multifaceted social identity of a particular substance gold - and how this identity is defended by groups, institutions and existing material culture in the face of challenges to its validity. This will be done through a case study of the rise and demise of a 'new material', Fairtrade and Fairmined (FT/FM) gold, created in an attempt to challenge the status quo. Campaigners' concerted attempts to increase the multivalence of gold and the results will be considered using the analytical tool of complexity, an approach that helps explain how specific masses of gold can be considered and treated as different yet identical. On 9 February 2011, the Fairtrade Foundation presented a new material to the UK's press. In autumn 2012, Fairtrade began a review of the FT/FM gold standard. The review was ostensibly to 'make adjustments to the existing standards using the experience gained since product first went on sale last year'.
