OBJECTIVES: • TO EXAMINE THE ORIGINS OF MONEY • TO EXPLORE WHAT MONEY REPRESENTS • TO SEE HOW MONEY AFFECTS CLASS • TO EXPLORE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MONEY AND NATURE. Money is thought to have originated in about 800BC and has continued to develop ever since. Coins or metal money were the predominant form of money until banks were introduced. Paper money was then introduced, offering a promise of payment in metal. Since then we have become more distant from actual metal money as we use debit cards, credit cards and internet banking. Fraud and Forgery emerged almost as soon as money was invented. This led me to ask what money represented to make it so desirable. I came to the conclusion that money represented power, status within society, privilege, respect and an easy way of life. I looked at class and how boundaries have changed as views towards money have changed. Class is now much harder to define as money is more available and therefore new classifications have to be introduced and these vary from person to person. The human-nature divide is linked to the way we look at money. For example, the first banks emerged at the beginning of the enlightenment, when science was beginning to distance man from nature. We now live in an increasingly computerised world and think of ourselves as further away from nature. This is happening as we are becoming further removed from the value of money.