Why is money of value? The obvious answer is that this question is nothing more than a tautology. Money is a representation of value; thus, money is inherently valuable. End of discussion. However, there are more in-depth answers that can be given to this question.
Economics, Religion and Culture
The classic answer is found in the writings of Max Weber, who proposed that our contemporary valuing of money (and more generally, accumulated wealth) resides in religion. Of particular importance is the religion of John Calvinism and most forms of European Protestantism. Weber (1958) writes about the Protestant Ethic and its impact on the prevalent motivation in European (and American) societies to make money and acquire wealth.
Money and Religion
More recently, several noted social observers (e.g. Norman Brown, Mary Douglas, and Ernest Becker) have supported the proposition that money is embedded in a religious framework by moving even deeper into the primitive instincts of human beings. Building on the psychoanalytic theories of Otto Rank, Ernest Becker (1975, p. 75) declares that “money is the new ‘totemic possession.’” He points to the transaction that occurs in the Kwakiutl culture during their Potlatch and suggests that this same type of transaction occurs in the contemporary exchange of products and services for money.
Relying on insights offered by Mary Douglas, Becker suggests that money, like all rituals, mediates transactions. Money provides a means for establishing worth, for standardizing relationships among people with variable levels of social power, and provides a link between the present and future.
Culture and Economics
Much more recently, a somewhat different perspective has been offered. There is an intermediary between religion and wealth. This intermediary is culture. It has been introduced by Richard Rohr (2025), a noted Franciscan cleric. According to Rohr, “culture eats religion.” Applying this same blunt analysis to Weber’s perspective, we might state that “economics eats culture.” Talcott Parsons (1970), as one of the contemporary disciples of Max Weber, writes about the latent patterns that are formed in any social system. These latent patterns play a major role in maintaining the structure and dynamics of the system.
If we are to accept the pronouncement made by Rohr, then we might believe that economics creates and maintains the latent patterns; neither culture nor religion lays down these patterns. This being the case, money is ultimately of value in our society because it helps to create the foundation (latent pattern) of this society. We believe, think, and act in a money-oriented manner. While money might not be the most important thing in our life, it provides a point of orientation (pattern) and stability (pattern maintenance). In this essay, I explore this perspective on monetary value in greater depth and rely on the insights about money offered by several theologians, psychologists, economists, and financial advisors over the past century.
