Insight #2
Banks represent money as a standardized balance. In a very different way, individuals categorize their money depending on its source and destination. This social and emotional marking has an impact on how they perceive their money and use it.
Its meaning depends on the relationships through which it is exchanged: the money I received from my grandmother at Christmas is different from from my salary ¹ Viviana Zelizer, The social meaning of money
It conditions what can be done with it. Depending on where the money comes from, some expenses will be allowed, others not. Spending the end of the month bonus at the bar isn’t a taboo, but using the money given by my grandparents at Christmas to go shopping would be shameful.
Because it considers money as something fluid and liquid, the bank ignores the origin of money and transforms it into an abstract, aggregated and neutral balance.
When they talk about money, banks and individuals do not talk about the same thing. And what if banks took into account the way individuals perceive their money?
#GérerSonArgent
Banks and institutions share a certain idea of what money is and what people have to do with it. These preconceptions structure their banking products upstream as well as their service offer to individuals. Yet, the relationship of people to money is not obvious and deserves to be investigated. Are the perception of money and its actual use in line with the assumptions of banks? These lessons come from our report on the uses of money.
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