The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed

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Stanford University Press, May 27, 2015 - Political Science - 184 pages
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The capitalist market, progressives bemoan, is a cold monster: it disrupts social bonds, erodes emotional attachments, and imposes an abstract utilitarian rationality. But what if such hallowed critiques are completely misleading? This book argues that the production of new sources of faith and enchantment is crucial to the dynamics of the capitalist economy. Distinctively secular patterns of attraction and attachment give modern institutions a binding force that was not available to more traditional forms of rule. Elaborating his alternative approach through an engagement with the semiotics of money and the genealogy of economy, Martijn Konings uncovers capitalism's emotional and theological content in order to understand the paradoxical sources of cohesion and legitimacy that it commands. In developing this perspective, he draws on pragmatist thought to rework and revitalize the Marxist critique of capitalism.

 

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Contents

Introduction
1
Money as Icon
15
Affective Signs
27
Icon and Economy
41
Semiotics of Iconicity
53
Economy in America
65
Lineages of Progressivism
79
Economy and Affect
93
Neoliberal Economy
107
Notes
133
Bibliography
141
Index
167
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed
Martijn Konings
No preview available - 2015
The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed
Martijn Konings
No preview available - 2015

Common terms and phrases

ability actor-network theory affective force Agamben’s American Antonio Negri anxiety associations attachment austerity authority become biopolitical capacity capitalist character church’s commodity fetishism complex conceptual connections constitutive construction crisis critical crucial debt democratic disavowal economy effects elites embedded emergence emotional engagement ethos experience external fact faith Foucaultian God’s governance human iconic sign iconoclastic iconophilia identity idolatry imaginary immanent increasingly institutions instrumental rationality interaction invested involves logic Marxist means metaphors modern capitalism modern power modern subject money’s moral narcissism narcissistic neoconservative neoliberal capitalism neoliberal discourses networks norms one’s operation organic paradoxical performances perspective Polanyian thought political populist poststructuralist practical pragmatic pragmatist problematic problems productive progressive discourses progressive logic progressive thinkers progressive thought progressive-liberal progressivism promise Protestantism rationality redemptive reflexive relation republican Riesman role role-taking Saussurean secular securitization seen semiosis semiotic signifiers social society sovereignty spirit structure symbolic tend tion traditional transcendent trauma usury

About the author (2015)

Martin Konings is Senior Lecturer and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Emotional Logic of Capitalism
TitleThe Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed
AuthorMartijn Konings
Editionreprint
PublisherStanford University Press, 2015
ISBN0804794502, 9780804794503
Length184 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Business & Economics / Economics / Theory
Political Science / History & Theory
Social Science / Sociology / General
  
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