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  • © 2017

The Language of Money and Debt

A Multidisciplinary Approach

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Compares the models with which lay individuals work with ‘official’ models of money and the economy

  • Provides an important perspective on lay discourses and behaviours with money, something of great value to those who would encourage ‘good’ financial behaviour and economic literacy

  • Makes clear that while money may be conceptualised as a thing it is rather an index of a range of other emotions, beliefs, relationships and social structures

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. The View from the Ground

    • Annabelle Mooney, Evi Sifaki
    Pages 1-30
  3. Money and Childhood

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31
    2. The Treatment of Money and Wealth in the Harry Potter Series

      • Tanweer Ali, Eva Lebdušková
      Pages 57-78
  4. What Is Money?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 257-257
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 311-316

About this book

This book analyses the language that ordinary people employ when discussing money, debt and financial behaviour. It documents and critiques this language from an array of disciplinary perspectives, with chapters on children’s books, government infomercials, television poverty porn, the emotional experience of being indebted, and more. In doing so, it addresses common underlying questions concerning definitions of money and value, and scrutinises how people construct, negotiate and articulate meaning in these domains. This wide-ranging edited collection will be of interest to students and scholars of linguistics, sociology, communication, literature and anthropology.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Media, Culture and Language, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom

    Annabelle Mooney, Evi Sifaki

About the editors

Annabelle Mooney is Professor of Language and Society at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research interests include the language of money and financial literacy, and the language of human rights.


Evi Sifaki is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her main research focus is the syntax of different word order phenomena, and the documentation of various aspects of morphosyntactic change.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Language of Money and Debt

  • Book Subtitle: A Multidisciplinary Approach

  • Editors: Annabelle Mooney, Evi Sifaki

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57568-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-57567-4Published: 26 July 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86196-8Published: 12 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-57568-1Published: 13 July 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 316

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, Social Anthropology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access