The Development of Human Cooperation: Towards a Post-monetary Society? Cover Image

Razvoj ljudske suradnje: prema postmonetarnom društvu?
The Development of Human Cooperation: Towards a Post-monetary Society?

Author(s): Vjeran Katunarić
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Hrvatsko sociološko društvo
Keywords: community; society; cooperation; competition; neo-feudalism; monetarism; post-monetary society

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the interconnectedness between neo-feudal tendencies in contemporary societies and the evolution of money into global money, which corresponds to the original nature of money as debt, as defined by Georg Simmel and further elaborated by the contemporary sociology of money. The existence of an enormous amount of financial means outside the control of any state enables enrichment in disregard of democratic egalitarianism, and also the formation of social stratification typical of the early modern society in Europe. The author interprets this tendency as the transformation of the relationship between society (Gesellschaft) and community (Gemeinschaft) into a caricature of liberalism and socialism, respectively, i.e., the Upper and the Lower Community. He confronts his vision of a post-monetary society with this tendency. In such a society, money would serve to fulfil the necessary needs of the individual and society on a high civilization level. On the other hand, money would be gradually withdrawn from circulation in the spheres of de-alienated labour and there where immediate trust between people prevails over mediated trust or mistrust. Such a de-monetarization would occur in the context of complementary and cooperative relations in society, i.e., a partnership between socialism and liberalism with their human faces.

  • Issue Year: 40/2010
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 129-155
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Croatian