Gender and Class Influences on Monetary Behaviour and Financial Subjectivities

This communication analyses the main transformations of payment methods and their effects on spending, saving and indebtedness patterns.

The digitization of payment methods and systems entails numerous transformations related to the structure of monetary transactions, which in turn leads to new behavioural patterns and financial subjectivities. Our aim is to identify how the digitalization of payment methods affects to the categorization processes developed by different social groups. To this end, this communication analyzes the most relevant contributions and limitations in theoretical approaches to these issues: the theory of mental accounting (Thaler, 1999); the everyday life financialization (Chiapello, 2015; Martin, 2002); the social earmarking of money (Zelizer, 2011) and the concept of relational work (Bandelj, 2016, 2017, 2012).

The communication focuses specifically on three closely related aspects: first, the effects of the digitalization of payment methods on economic behaviour; second, population's attitudes towards money and its social functions; third, different spending and saving strategies according to social groups (gender, age and social class).

We have conducted a telephone survey of a sample size of 2000 individuals in Spain over 18 years, and semi structured interviews to 30 individuals according to three variables: gender, age and income levels.

Provisional results points out to the identification of the relational functions of money and the identification of different mental accounting patterns by gender and class.