Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Money and Autonomy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Money, Autonomy and Citizenship

  • 216 Accesses

Abstract

After 5 years of interviews and traveling through the poorest regions of Brazil, which lack mostly in state services, we can attest to the fact that the BF program produced significant change in the lives of its grantees. One such change constitutes the first steps towards overcoming the culture of resignation, in other words, the resigned wait to starve to death or to die from diseases of poverty. This was a drama that was commonplace in this world: its lament was the subject of most of the songs and popular poetry of the region. The greatest Brazilian writers have written their masterpieces against the backdrop of the hunger and misery of our fellow citizens.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Simmel 2011, 324.

  2. 2.

    “The human faculties of perception, judgment, discriminative feeling, mental activity, and even moral preference, are exercised only in making choices. He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. He gains no practice either in discerning or in desiring what is best. The mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being used” (Mill 1991, 65). There is an artistic memory that relates here as well. Just think about the lines of Cesare Sterbini in Barber of Seville, the famous opera by Gioachino Rossini, when Fígaro says: “at the idea of this metal [money]…a volcano within me commences to erupt.” The Italian philosopher Vittorio Mathieu says, “pay attention to the concept: that metal acts on his mind like an idea that gives him other ideas” (Mathieu 1991).

  3. 3.

    Hannah Arendt discusses this issue in several works.

  4. 4.

    This idea is central to the thinking of Amartya Sen, as was discussed in Chap. 2.

  5. 5.

    This refers to a 2009 Ford Foundation research project comparing Indian microcredit with the Brazilian BF.

  6. 6.

    Data available at: http://www.ujjivan.com/monthly_newsletter_july_2009.htm.

  7. 7.

    Data available at: http://www.gdrc.org/icm/icm-peoplebanks.html.

  8. 8.

    It must be understood that suicide by Indian farmers is a problem. It is estimated that 87,000 farmers committed suicide in 2006. Default on debt is one of the reasons listed for such a desperate act. Information available at: http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/microfinance/microcredit/microfinance_debt_trap.html. Accessed on 12/03/2008.

  9. 9.

    We owe a debt to Márcia Baratto, a doctoral candidate from Unicamp, Brazil for the collection and organization of this data about the moral and political effects of microcredit among poor Indian women. She joined us during our research in that country.

  10. 10.

    For more on this long story, see, among others, Zincone 1992, Bendix 1964, Tilly 1990 and Costa 1999–2001.

  11. 11.

    The debate regarding the theoretical legal merit of the contemporary constitutional debate is beyond the scope of this work. As is well known, there is great controversy in this respect among the various schools of constitutionalists, especially regarding the type of basic and secondary rights that require basic and secondary guarantees by the state.

References

  • Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. New York: Viking Press. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New Edition with Added Prefaces. New York: Harvest Books, 1968 [1st edition: 1951].

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendix, Reinhard. Nation-Building and Citizenship. Studies of Our Changing. Social Order. New York, London, and Sydney: John Wiley and Sons, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benhabib, Seyla. Intervista con Seyla Benhabib: La filosofia politica femminista (15/07/1992). Acessível em http://www.emsf.rai.it/interviste/interviste.asp?d=381 (acessado em 26/06/2011).

  • Ciriza, Alejandra. Pasado y presente. El dilema Wollstonecraft como herencia teórica y política. In: Boron, Atilio A,; Vita, Álvaro de (orgs.). Teoría y filosofia política. Buenos Aires: Clacso, 2002, 217–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, Pietro. Civitas. Storia della cittadinanza in Europa. Roma; Bari: Laterza, 1999–2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutschmann Christoph. Money as Social Construction. In: Thesis Eleven, Vol. 47, November.1996, 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrajoli, Luigi. Diritti Fondamentali. Roma e Bari: Laterza, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gourevitch, Peter. Politics in Hard Times. Comparative Responses to International Economic Crises. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramsci, Antonio. Caderno 11 (1932–1933): Introdução ao estudo da filosofia. In: ————. Cadernos do cárcere. Volume I. Edição de Carlos Nelson Coutinho. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, David; Mosley, Paul. Microenterprise Finance: Is There a Conflict Between Growth and Poverty Alleviation? In: World Development Vol. 26, No. 5, 1998, 783–790.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay, Thelma. Empowering women through self-help microcredit programmer. In: Bulletin on Asia-Pacific Perspectives, vol. 20, 2002, 69–78 (www.unescap.org/drpad/publication/bulletin%202002/ch6.pdf)

  • Laidler, David; Rowe, Nicholas. Georg Simmel’s Philosophy of Money. A Review Article for Economists. In: Journal of Economic Literature. Vol XVII, March 1980, 97–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lispector, Clarice. The Hour of the Star. New Directions, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manin, Bernard. The Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Margalit, Avishai. The Decent Society. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Thomas H. Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy. London: Penguin, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy. London: Penguin. Pre-capitalist Economic Formations. New York: International Publishers, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy. London: Penguin. Antologia. Capitalismo, istruzioni per l’uso. A cura di Enrico Donaggio e Peter Kammerer. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, Vittorio. Filosofia del denaro. In: Enciclopedia Multimediale delle Scienze Filosofiche, 1991, http://www.emsf.rai.it/aforismi/aforismi.asp?d=118 (acesso em 26 de abril de 2012).

  • Mazzini, Giuseppe. Dei doveri dell’uomo. Milano: Rizzoli, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, John Stuart. Subjection of Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press. On Liberty and Other Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, Martha. Aristotelian Social Democracy. In: Douglass, R. B.; Mara, G. R.; Richardson, H. S. (orgs.). Liberalism and the Good. New York e London: Routledge. Women and Human Development. The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pateman, Carole. Democratizing Citizenship. Some Advantages of a Basic Income. In: Politics and Society, 32/1, 2004, 89–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollock, Friedrich. La teoria marxiana del denaro. In: ————. Teoria e prassi dell’economia di piano. Antologia degli scritti 1928–1941. Bari: Di Donato, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramos, Graciliano. Vidas Secas. 57ª edição. São Paulo: Record, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramos, Graciliano. Vidas Secas. 57ª edição. São Paulo: Record. Insônia. São Paulo: Record, 1986 (1986a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Simmel, Georg. The Poor. Social Problems, 13/2. The Philosophy of Money. London: Routledge, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smelt, Simon. Money’s Place in Society; In: British Journal of Sociology, 31, 1980, 204–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trentin, Bruno. L’ingiustizia sociale. Entrevista para a revista Il Grillo, 10/12/1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelizer, Viviana. The Social Meaning of Money: “Special Monies” In: American Journal of Sociology, 95/2, 1989, 342–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zincone, Giovanna. Due vie alla Cittadinanza: il modello societario e il modello statalista. In: Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 19. Da sudditi a cittadini. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Alessandro Pinzani

  2. Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Walquiria Leão Rego

Authors
  1. Alessandro Pinzani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Walquiria Leão Rego
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pinzani, A., Rego, W.L. (2019). Money and Autonomy. In: Money, Autonomy and Citizenship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01361-5_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01361-5_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01360-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01361-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation