Distributed for HAU
An Outline of the Origins of Money
A new English translation of a forgotten German text that influenced cultural understanding of money in the early twentieth century.
Heinrich Schurtz’s 1898 book has been a touchstone for economic historians, anthropologists, and philosophers interested in the nature and origins of money in various societies, including Georg Simmel, Max Weber, Marcel Mauss, and Karl Polanyi. In his brief book, Schurtz experimented with concepts about money, going beyond traditional economic paradigms. Drawing on an extensive range of archaeological and ethnographic sources, he reframed a theory of money to include its materiality, symbolic nature, relationship to forms of property, and its dual origin in “outside money” and “inside money.” While it is not well known today, it was important to the theorization of money in the first half of the 20th century and its innovative synthesis offers galvanizing questions and insights into how value relations are formed and how currency systems are interrelated.
“On this subject, I only knew the excellent little book by the late Schurtz”—Marcel Mauss, 1914, Les origines de la notion de monnaie.
Heinrich Schurtz’s 1898 book has been a touchstone for economic historians, anthropologists, and philosophers interested in the nature and origins of money in various societies, including Georg Simmel, Max Weber, Marcel Mauss, and Karl Polanyi. In his brief book, Schurtz experimented with concepts about money, going beyond traditional economic paradigms. Drawing on an extensive range of archaeological and ethnographic sources, he reframed a theory of money to include its materiality, symbolic nature, relationship to forms of property, and its dual origin in “outside money” and “inside money.” While it is not well known today, it was important to the theorization of money in the first half of the 20th century and its innovative synthesis offers galvanizing questions and insights into how value relations are formed and how currency systems are interrelated.
“On this subject, I only knew the excellent little book by the late Schurtz”—Marcel Mauss, 1914, Les origines de la notion de monnaie.
230 pages | 21 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2024
Classics in Ethnographic Theory
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Economics and Business: Economics--History, Economics--Money and Banking
Table of Contents
Foreword: The Institutional-Systemic Origins of Money, by Michael Hudson
Introduction: Heinrich Schurtz’s Anthropology of Money, by Enrique Martino and Mario Schmidt
CHAPTER 1
Anthropology and Economics. The Natural Monetary System
CHAPTER 2
The Beginnings of Property.
Measure of Value and Valuable Property. The Origin of Inside-Money
CHAPTER 3
Forms of Inside-Money
CHAPTER 4
Sign-Money
CHAPTER 5
Sacred Money
CHAPTER 6
Accumulation of Property by Individuals. Countermeasures
CHAPTER 7
The Influence of External Trade. Primitive Forms of Exchange. Outside-Money
CHAPTER 8
The Fusion of Inside- and Outside-Money
CHAPTER 9
Overview of Primitive Money. Ornament-Money in General. Shell-Money
CHAPTER 10
Other Types of Ornament-Money
CHAPTER 11
Metal as Ornament and Money
CHAPTER 12
Clothes and Fabric-Money
CHAPTER 13
Use-Money.
Food and Stimulants
CHAPTER 14
Iron-Money
CHAPTER 15
Other Types of Use-Money
CHAPTER 16
Monetary Systems and Value Ratios
CHAPTER 17
Anthropogeographical Considerations. Ethnographic Zones
CHAPTER 18
Money and Commodity. Conclusion.
Supplements
Notes
Editorial and Translation Note References
Editorial References
Introduction: Heinrich Schurtz’s Anthropology of Money, by Enrique Martino and Mario Schmidt
CHAPTER 1
Anthropology and Economics. The Natural Monetary System
CHAPTER 2
The Beginnings of Property.
Measure of Value and Valuable Property. The Origin of Inside-Money
CHAPTER 3
Forms of Inside-Money
CHAPTER 4
Sign-Money
CHAPTER 5
Sacred Money
CHAPTER 6
Accumulation of Property by Individuals. Countermeasures
CHAPTER 7
The Influence of External Trade. Primitive Forms of Exchange. Outside-Money
CHAPTER 8
The Fusion of Inside- and Outside-Money
CHAPTER 9
Overview of Primitive Money. Ornament-Money in General. Shell-Money
CHAPTER 10
Other Types of Ornament-Money
CHAPTER 11
Metal as Ornament and Money
CHAPTER 12
Clothes and Fabric-Money
CHAPTER 13
Use-Money.
Food and Stimulants
CHAPTER 14
Iron-Money
CHAPTER 15
Other Types of Use-Money
CHAPTER 16
Monetary Systems and Value Ratios
CHAPTER 17
Anthropogeographical Considerations. Ethnographic Zones
CHAPTER 18
Money and Commodity. Conclusion.
Supplements
Notes
Editorial and Translation Note References
Editorial References