bruce davis freemarket money at the intersection of culture, economy and society: a social life of...
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Bruce DavisFreemarket
Money at the intersection of culture, economy and society: a social life of
money and the inside story of www.zopa.com
The New Barn Studios Collective
Ethnographic entrepreneurOr entrepreneurial ethnographer?
Context: a social life of money
A quick example
“When is an ISA not an ISA?”
From object to thing
Object=-Technology
-Rational function-cost
‘Thing’’=-Social meaning-Social practices- Social capital
socialisation
domestication
ritualization
Meaning = neutral Meaning = Situational Usage = Social
Shift from looking at what a product ‘does’ to what meaning it ‘creates’
What if ....?
Key themes
• Increasing disconnection between the individual and the institutions / public meanings of money and economy:
– Breakdown of trust and social relations
– Divergence of values, goals and ideals
– Even the beginning of banks not trusting other banks….
• Consumers are ahead of the curve:
– No longer relevant to talk about adoption, but adaptation, domestication and interpretation.
– Consumers are actively creating their own meanings and usage of money products (as individual entrepreneurs).
Types of adapters - money
• Traditional Entrepreneurs - portfolio against uncertainty
• Lifestyle Entrepreneurs – ‘place in the sun’
• Domestic Entrepreneurs – surplus and abundance
• Personal Entrepreneurs – guilt free enjoyment/ play the system
A place to create your world of money?
objective subjective
Growth/fluidity
Surplus/Stability
TraditionalEntrepreneurs Lifestyle Entrepreneurs
Personal EntrepreneursDomestic Entrepreneurs
Everyday EntrepreneursTangible/PlaceHuman/Social
Control/ConfidenceReal alternative
Transforming value:from needs to creating meaning
¢ 8 per cup $4 per cup
www.zopa.com
Loan as gift?Interest as reciprocation?
Cultural catalyst? Cultural medium?
Freeing up “the market”?
• www.Mysociety.org – the flow of political (small p) ideas.
• www.Dothegreenthing.com – the flow of green ideas and practices.
• www.quickheart.com – from process to buying experience.
Imagining money...
"Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams—this may be
madness...and maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be."
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes