Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

'I have lost interest ... in all that I have written prior to The Philosophy of Money. This one is really my book, the others appear to me colourless and seem as if they could have been written by anyone else.' - Georg Simmel to Heinrich Rickert (1904)
We should all be grateful for this translation. It must have been extremely hard work, but it shows no trace of it. Indeed, it positively sparkles.' - Alan Ryan, The Guardian
In The Philosophy of Money, Simmel provides us with a remarkably wide-ranging discussion of the social, psychological and philosophical aspects of the money economy, full of brilliant insights into the forms that social relationships take. He analyzes the relationships of money to exchange, the human personality, the position of women, individual freedom and many other areas of human existence. Later he provides us with an account of the consequences of the modern money economy and the division of labor, which examines the processes of alienation and reification in work, urban life and elsewhere. Perhaps, more than any of his other sociological works, The Philosophy of Money gives us an example of his comprehensive analysis of the interrelationships between the most diverse and seemingly connected social phenomena.
This revised edition of the translation by Tom Bottomore and David Frisby, includes a new Preface by David Frisby.

Georg Simmel gilt zu Recht als ein klassischer Theoretiker der Moderne. Er sah im Überschneidungsbereich von ästhetischer Erfahrung und einer genuin soziologischen Beschreibung von Modernität die Möglichkeit gegeben, der epochalen Eigenart des modernen Lebens mit all seinen Spannungen, Konflikten und Paradoxien auf die Spur zu kommen, ohne diese vorschnell unter eine begriffliche Systematik zu subsumieren. In diesem Band wird Simmels Programm einer „soziologischen Ästhetik“ unter anderem anhand einiger seiner kunstkritischen Schriften aus den 1890er Jahren, seiner Arbeiten über die Rolle der modernen Kunst- und Gewerbeausstellungen, der Mode und dem Schmuck sowie seiner luziden Studien über die Geselligkeit und die Koketterie dokumentiert.

With a new foreword by Charles Lemert

'Its greatness...lies in ceaseless and varied use of the money form to unearth and conceptually reveal incommensurabilities of all kinds, in social reality fully as much as in thought itself.' - Fredric Jameson

In The Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel puts money on the couch. He provides us with a classic analysis of the social, psychological and philosophical aspects of the money economy, full of brilliant insights into the forms that social relationships take. He analyzes the relationships of money to exchange, human personality, the position of women, and individual freedom. Simmel also offers us prophetic insights into the consequences of the modern money economy and the division of labour, in particular the processes of alienation and reification in work and urban life.

An immense and profound piece of work it demands to be read today and for years to come as a stunning account of the meaning, use and culture of money.

Georg Simmel (1858-1918) was born in Berlin, the youngest of seven children. He studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin and was one of the first generation of great German sociologists that included Max Weber.