ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the idea that money is a language, and argues that while money can be communicative, it is not like a natural language. But exploring the comparison does show us something. Specifically, examining arguments that draw a comparison between money and language shows that the life world in which money might be a language is one of national and international economies (the market). This is distinct from the life world of individual human beings engaged in transactions and exchanges (the marketplace). The difference can also be articulated in relation to value. The market is oriented to exchange value while the marketplace of real people orients to use value. To illustrate the difference between these two life worlds, the chapter examines data from the Bank of England Museum and then uses the themes that emerge from that analysis to explore the individual life world through data from an ethnographic study of people in the UK.
