Show Me the Money: Building Public Trust through Central Bank Museums
Lecture by Prof. Juliet Johnson (Department of Political Science, Mc Gill University – Canada)
This talk examines how central banks attempt to build public trust in money through strategically employing what I call the stability narrative. This narrative asserts that central banks: 1) can maintain the value of money; 2) can maintain the security of money; 3) represent the nation; and 4) have grown increasingly professional and sophisticated – and thus better at their jobs – over time. I explore the stability narrative by studying its expression in central bank visitor centers/museums, drawing on interviews/site visits to 18 leading central bank museums as well as qualitative content analysis of the websites of the over 150 central bank museums that currently exist around the world. Museums tell stories; they distill, teach, and privilege the beliefs of their creators. As such, museums represent an ideal vehicle for understanding the ways in which central banks attempt to build public trust by promoting their ability to govern money. This task has become more difficult and more important over time, as central bankers increasingly rely upon communicative strategies in order to defend national and international monetary stability.
News from the research center
Article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich published in EJPT
The article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich has just been published open access in the European Journal of Political Theory (EJPT). Ulrich brings the perspective of radical realism into a productive dialog with Adorno's critical theory.
more information ›Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay awarded the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Prize 2025
Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay (Junior Professor of Ethnology with a focus on Political Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and former postdoctoral researcher at the Research Center Normative Orders at Goethe University) receives the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Award 2025 in the category Humanities and Social Sciences.
more information ›Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?
Ulrich, Amadeus (2025): Ideology and suffering: What is realistic about critical theory? European Journal of Political Theory, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851251351782
more information ›New series “Vertrauensfragen” in the Frankfurter Rundschau initiated by Hendrik Simon
Democracy thrives on debate - if it serves the joint search for solutions. There is often a problem with this cooperation. The new FR series “Vertrauensfragen”, initiated by Hendrik Simon (Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) Frankfurt location at Goethe University's Research Centre Normative Orders ), examines why this is the case and how we can do better.
more information ›Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina
Moreno, Guadalupe (2025): “Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina”. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Discussion Paper 25/3.
more information ›Does deliberative democracy have a future in the age of oligarchs, autocrats and patriarchs?
On June 3, Prof. Simone Chambers will give a lecture on the value of democracies and the future of the form of government.
more information ›Klimaethik. Ein Reader
Sparenborg, Lukas; Moellendorf, Darrel (Hrsg.) (2025) : Klimaethik. Ein Reader. Suhrkamp.
more information ›What can a baroque tapestry tell us about colonial iconography?
Lecture by Cécile Fromone on May 21. The professor at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, director of the Cooper Gallery at the Hutchins Center and author will talk about the long-forgotten African origins of iconography and its colonial dimension.
more information ›