ON THE UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF MONEY

As a result of the division of intellectual labour that followed the M ethodenstreit in the social sciences, sociology neglected the analysis of the social production of money and has concentrated instead on its social effects or social meanings. Moreover, sociology tacitly endors ed the flawed conception of money as a 'veil' masking either the 'real ' economy or the 'social relations' of production. Building on the app roach of the 'historical school' of economics and Keynes and the post- Keynesians, an alternative theory of money, seen as primarily abstract money of account, is outlined. With this approach it is possible to d evelop an explanation for the development of capitalism's distinctive form of bank and state credit-money. Sociology should recover intellec tual responsibility for the analysis of monetary phenomena such as inf lation, interest rate determination, etc., as the outcome of economic conflict grounded in price-setting struggles. (C) Scandinavian Sociolo gical Association 1998.