Tkacz, Nathaniel. 2019. Money’s new abstractions: Apple Pay and the economy of experience. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 20(3), pp. 264-283. ISSN 1600-910X [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This article draws on insights from digital media theory and design methodology to contribute to sociological and anthropological understandings of money. It postulates the rise of a new money-form, or rather money-forms, referred to (in the plural) as experience money. The notion of experience money is developed through an analysis of Apple Pay, where I suggest that experience contains both economic and design qualities. Experience, that is, is both a way of thinking about and producing value, and a set of concrete design techniques for realizing such value. Each instance of experience money therefore embodies a distinctive ‘value proposition’ – an experience value, if you will – which forms the basis of differentiation and competition. While there is a vast literature dedicated to troubling and challenging the modern accounts of money and economy in terms of abstraction – from anthropology to economic sociology, social studies of finance or even behavioural economics – experience money poses new challenges for these empirically-nuanced theories of money. Experience money performatively incorporates and recodes the diversity and specificity of money and monetary practices as described by sociologists and anthropologists. It participates in the critique of (modern) money as abstraction, but it by no means does away with abstraction. The article concludes with a reflection on what money’s new relationship to abstraction entails for how we study economy.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2019.1653348
Additional Information:	“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in 'Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory' on 26 September 2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2019.1653348. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.”
Keywords:	Experience, Apple Pay, money, payment, abstraction, user experience, platforms
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Dates:	Date Event 26 September 2019 Published Online 2019 Published
Item ID:	34104
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2023 13:49
Last Modified:	26 Sep 2023 15:41
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/34104

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