The political ecology of money : Uneven development, materiality, and unequal exchange
Hornborg, Alf LU
(2026)
In Human Geography
- Abstract
- This review of a selection of literature in critical geography, political ecology, eco-Marxism, and ecological economics over thepast five decades reflects on the paucity of discussion on the phenomenon of modern, all-purpose money. This is paradoxical,given the almost universal denunciation of mainstream economics and capitalist political economy in this literature. The cri-tiques of environmental injustices and uneven development tend to target an abstract capitalist ‘system’ rather than the pecu-liar and historically recent artefact of money through which it operates. A rethinking of the role of money in the modernworld economy can unravel ambiguities in Marxian concepts of value, unequal exchange, and exploitation. In remaining con-fined... (More)
- This review of a selection of literature in critical geography, political ecology, eco-Marxism, and ecological economics over thepast five decades reflects on the paucity of discussion on the phenomenon of modern, all-purpose money. This is paradoxical,given the almost universal denunciation of mainstream economics and capitalist political economy in this literature. The cri-tiques of environmental injustices and uneven development tend to target an abstract capitalist ‘system’ rather than the pecu-liar and historically recent artefact of money through which it operates. A rethinking of the role of money in the modernworld economy can unravel ambiguities in Marxian concepts of value, unequal exchange, and exploitation. In remaining con-fined to the hegemonic worldview, monetary framings of inequalities miss the mark of exposing the veiled material asymme-tries in social metabolism. It is argued that the concept of value refers to money, rather than vice versa, while unequalexchange should be understood as asymmetric transfers of material resources, rather than values. Monetary and biophysicalflows must be approached as analytically distinct phenomena, where the latter are mystified by the former. Rather thanattempt to straddle this distinction, the Marxian labour theory of value can be understood as addressing a subset within awider range of exploitative, biophysical exchange relations. The monetary theory of value indicated here appears to be alignedwith some recent Marxist scholarship. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a78e7e09-58f0-435c-bf9b-f21d26485cca
- author
- Hornborg, Alf
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-02-26
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- in
- Human Geography
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105031233946
- ISSN
- 1942-7786
- DOI
- 10.1177/19427786261425128
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a78e7e09-58f0-435c-bf9b-f21d26485cca
- date added to LUP
- 2026-02-02 22:30:22
- date last changed
- 2026-04-30 04:00:50
@article{a78e7e09-58f0-435c-bf9b-f21d26485cca,
abstract = {{This review of a selection of literature in critical geography, political ecology, eco-Marxism, and ecological economics over thepast five decades reflects on the paucity of discussion on the phenomenon of modern, all-purpose money. This is paradoxical,given the almost universal denunciation of mainstream economics and capitalist political economy in this literature. The cri-tiques of environmental injustices and uneven development tend to target an abstract capitalist ‘system’ rather than the pecu-liar and historically recent artefact of money through which it operates. A rethinking of the role of money in the modernworld economy can unravel ambiguities in Marxian concepts of value, unequal exchange, and exploitation. In remaining con-fined to the hegemonic worldview, monetary framings of inequalities miss the mark of exposing the veiled material asymme-tries in social metabolism. It is argued that the concept of value refers to money, rather than vice versa, while unequalexchange should be understood as asymmetric transfers of material resources, rather than values. Monetary and biophysicalflows must be approached as analytically distinct phenomena, where the latter are mystified by the former. Rather thanattempt to straddle this distinction, the Marxian labour theory of value can be understood as addressing a subset within awider range of exploitative, biophysical exchange relations. The monetary theory of value indicated here appears to be alignedwith some recent Marxist scholarship.}},
author = {{Hornborg, Alf}},
issn = {{1942-7786}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Human Geography}},
title = {{The political ecology of money : Uneven development, materiality, and unequal exchange}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/19427786261425128}},
doi = {{10.1177/19427786261425128}},
year = {{2026}},
}