Psychology

During the COVID-19 lockdown, our house maid was unable to come to our house. We were forced to do all the household chores ourselves. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Indian society, it is quite common for middle- and upper-middle-class households to employ domestic help. Since we had to do everything ourselves, my sister and I were assigned duties. One of them was sweeping the entire house. We took turns doing it. If I did it today, my sister would do it tomorrow. That was the rule we had established between us. One day, however, it was my sister’s turn to sweep the house, but she wasn’t ready on time. My mother asked me, “Why haven’t you swept the house yet?” I replied, “Why should I do it? It’s her turn today.” My mother simply picked up the broom and started sweeping herself. This eventually led to a fight between my sister and me, and my mother scolded both of us. ...

What is money? Money is a piece of paper or coin with specific markings on it, or it can also be defined as a number displayed on the smartphone. This is the raw experience of money and this is how babies would define money (if they could speak). Let’s ask the question again, what is money? Money is something we give to get things. I give money, I get chocolate. I give money, I get groceries. This is how children and a few adults would define money. Let’s ask the question one more time, what is money? Money is a medium of exchange, a store of value, a unit of account. It allows people to trade without bartering. It allows millions of people to co-ordinate without knowing each other. Let’s say you buy coffee from Starbucks in Mumbai, the coffee farmer in Brazil doesn’t know you. The truck driver who transported the coffee beans to the port, the manager of the port, the manager of the shipping company, the manager of the roasting company, the manager of the Starbucks in Mumbai, the cashier at the Starbucks, none of them know you. Yet, you were able to get the coffee. This is perhaps how an economist would define money. Let’s ask the question again, what is money? Money is nothing real, it is just a story that humans collectively believe in. It is a shared fiction sustained by collective trust. This might be how a sociologist answers the question. A philosopher might go even deeper, they might ask something like, “If money is a symbolic representation for value, what even is value?” ...

When I was around 13-14 years old, I remember having this very strong belief that money is the root of all evil. I also remember having very strong reasons for it. I used to often think, why don’t we ban money? Clearly, movies where rich people with a lot of black money were criminals had a lot of impact on me 😄. But that was not just the reason. I saw that people committed heinous crimes for money. I saw that rich people had no morality left in them. I had very valid reasons to hold that belief. But I don’t need to tell you how naive that was. ...