POWER of meanings // MEANINGS of power
  • About
  • Introduction
  • Browse the book
    • All the pages alphabetically >
      • A >
        • Power: Against the Flow, with the Flow
        • Animal power
        • Addiction and power
        • Absolute power
        • Anxiety and power
      • B >
        • Bureaucracy and power
        • Buddhism
        • Binary thinking
      • C >
        • Cause and effect
        • Circumstances and Power
        • Power as a chess game
        • Choice
        • (Power to) change how you see things
        • Choosing meanings
        • Consumerism
        • Corrupted by power
      • D >
        • Discovering your power
      • E >
        • Empowerment
        • Empathy and power
        • (Power to) enjoy the moment
        • Entropy and power
      • F >
        • Foucault's "power is everywhere"
        • Free will
      • G
      • H >
        • Having power and using power
        • Human brain and power
      • I >
        • Intersectionality and power
        • Improving mental abilities
        • (Power to) improve your mood
        • In control
        • Inequality
        • Influencing each other
        • Intentionality and power
      • K >
        • Knowledge and power
      • L >
        • "Power" in language
        • Language has power over us
        • Limited resources
        • Louis XIV and Absolute Power
      • M >
        • Making an effort is a prerequisite of using power
        • Marxism and the meaning of power
        • "May" power
        • Micropower: Individual power
        • Mindfulness
        • Media and Digital Literacy as Forms of Individual Power
        • (Mis)understanding of power in media texts
        • Money and Power
        • My synesthetic perception of "power"
      • N >
        • (Nature) Power of nature
      • O >
        • Power on/off
      • P >
        • Power as ability
        • Power as influence
        • Power vs. powerlessness
        • Physical power
        • Power is not a thing
        • Power of speech
        • Privilege
        • Power of the powerless
      • R >
        • Responsibility, blame and power
      • S >
        • (Power of) seeing
        • Self-awareness and power
        • Snapshot power
        • (Ability and influence in) social and non-social power
        • Socialization and power
        • (Power of) stories
        • Studying power
        • Synonyms of power
      • T >
        • Theory of micro- and macropower
      • U >
        • Using power is rewarding
      • V >
        • Vector power
      • W >
        • What is power?
        • Willpower
    • Completed pages
  • Author
    • My creative process

Money and Power

PAGE IN PROGRESS
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book POWER of meanings // MEANINGS of power. Initially empty, this page will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. Thank you for your interest and patience! 
The common understanding of the relationship between money and power is this: People with money have power, because money allows rich people do things that people will less money are not allowed to do.

But we may ask ourselves, why does money give power to individuals who have them?
​The power of money rests on its meaning. Meaning of money is maintained not only by those who have lots of it, but also by those who don't have much.

Meanings of money are not "good" or "bad". Because everybody shares and supports the meaning of money, people have been able to create complex civilizations. The barter economy is not enough for that. Money has its benefits, but it also has its drawbacks, as when some people start valuing money more than anything else.
This may happen because money means power for most people in the world. Not just power to do everything, just everyday power of being able to have things and live one's life in a certain way.

Money is an example of macropower because it exists through meaning supported by most people in the world.

Harari "Sapiens" Chapter 10
Money gave power to the king. Money meant people's belief in the power of the king, submission to the king. King gave power to money, as his stamp on a coin meant that if somebody falsifies a coin, he/she will be severely punished.

​„
Die Menschen sprachen zwar unterschiedliche Sprachen, gehorchten unterschiedlichen Herrschern und beteten unterschiedliche Götter an, doch sie alle glaubten an Gold, Silber und die Münzen aus diesen Edelmetallen.“
This made globalization possible
If you are interested in getting updates about this project (e.g., when new pages are published), please sign up for the newsletter on my main website.

I use AI tools as a kind of writing partner—sometimes to shape drafts, clarify arguments, or explore phrasing. But the ideas, perspectives, and direction are always my own. Every piece here is part of an evolving personal project.
  • About
  • Introduction
  • Browse the book
    • All the pages alphabetically >
      • A >
        • Power: Against the Flow, with the Flow
        • Animal power
        • Addiction and power
        • Absolute power
        • Anxiety and power
      • B >
        • Bureaucracy and power
        • Buddhism
        • Binary thinking
      • C >
        • Cause and effect
        • Circumstances and Power
        • Power as a chess game
        • Choice
        • (Power to) change how you see things
        • Choosing meanings
        • Consumerism
        • Corrupted by power
      • D >
        • Discovering your power
      • E >
        • Empowerment
        • Empathy and power
        • (Power to) enjoy the moment
        • Entropy and power
      • F >
        • Foucault's "power is everywhere"
        • Free will
      • G
      • H >
        • Having power and using power
        • Human brain and power
      • I >
        • Intersectionality and power
        • Improving mental abilities
        • (Power to) improve your mood
        • In control
        • Inequality
        • Influencing each other
        • Intentionality and power
      • K >
        • Knowledge and power
      • L >
        • "Power" in language
        • Language has power over us
        • Limited resources
        • Louis XIV and Absolute Power
      • M >
        • Making an effort is a prerequisite of using power
        • Marxism and the meaning of power
        • "May" power
        • Micropower: Individual power
        • Mindfulness
        • Media and Digital Literacy as Forms of Individual Power
        • (Mis)understanding of power in media texts
        • Money and Power
        • My synesthetic perception of "power"
      • N >
        • (Nature) Power of nature
      • O >
        • Power on/off
      • P >
        • Power as ability
        • Power as influence
        • Power vs. powerlessness
        • Physical power
        • Power is not a thing
        • Power of speech
        • Privilege
        • Power of the powerless
      • R >
        • Responsibility, blame and power
      • S >
        • (Power of) seeing
        • Self-awareness and power
        • Snapshot power
        • (Ability and influence in) social and non-social power
        • Socialization and power
        • (Power of) stories
        • Studying power
        • Synonyms of power
      • T >
        • Theory of micro- and macropower
      • U >
        • Using power is rewarding
      • V >
        • Vector power
      • W >
        • What is power?
        • Willpower
    • Completed pages
  • Author
    • My creative process