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The sociality of the wage: money rhythms, wealth circulation, and the problem with cash on the Z imbabwean‐ S outh A frican border
Author(s) -
Bolt Maxim
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.12082
Subject(s) - sociality , currency , earnings , cash , wage , circulation (fluid dynamics) , labour economics , productivity , economics , workforce , monetary economics , finance , ecology , macroeconomics , biology , economic growth , physics , thermodynamics
While wage labour and money have received much anthropological attention, the same cannot be said of wages themselves – actual banknotes and coins distributed in workforces. This article traces wages' social productivity among farm workers on the Z imbabwean‐ S outh A frican border. In this migrant‐labour setting, money's form matters. Because currency objects are physically the same, it is difficult for workers to store them in an insecure environment, leading them to turn to one another. As they manage their earnings, workers attempt to establish themselves as social persons while maintaining future options in uncertain circumstances. Workforce ties both shape and are constituted by flows of cash and the rhythms and circuits of the wage. Seen in terms of form, wages are highly personal – the very stuff of sociality.