Search results for ""Author Simon Garnett""

In many western societies today the optimism of the 1990s and early 2000s has given way to a deep unease and sense of foreboding. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, many people feel worse off and the future seems bleak. The mood has changed – that’s clear. But what is ‘the mood’? How can feelings be shared by many people, and how do these shared feelings shape the course of events? In this book, the sociologist Heinz Bude offers a highly original analysis of this vital but neglected topic. Moods, he argues, are ways of being in the world. Moods shape how we experience the world, which feelings and thoughts suggest themselves to us and which are excluded. But moods are not purely private: on the contrary, they form the basic tone or colouring of our collective existence and experience. They are crucial in determining our political outlook and preferences, our attitudes and identities, and they provide much of the energy that underlies forms of collective action, including social movements that seem to appear suddenly from nowhere. With the growing significance of a politics of discontent, Bude’s insightful analysis of the power of collective moods could not be more relevant. His book will appeal to anyone wanting to understand how our societies are changing in these profoundly uncertain times.

Read more less

The global financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a system of informal decision-making in the grey zone between economics and politics. Legitimized by a rhetoric of emergency, ad hoc bodies have usurped democratically elected governments. In line with the neoliberal credo, the recent crisis has been used to realize the politically impossible and to re-align executive power with the interests of the finance industry. In this important book, Joseph Vogl offers a much longer perspective on these developments, showing how the dynamics of modern finance capitalism have always rested on a complex and constantly evolving relationship between private creditors and the state. Combining historical and theoretical analysis, Vogl argues that over the last three centuries, finance has become a "fourth estate," marked by the systematic interconnection of treasury and finance, of political and private economic interests. Against this historical background, Vogl explores the latest phase in the financialization of government, namely the dramatic transfer of power from states to markets in the latter half of the 20th century. From the liberalization of credit and capital markets to the privatization of social security, he shows how policy has actively enabled a restructuring of the economy around the financial sector. Political systems are "imprisoned" by the regime of finance, while the corporate model suffuses society, enclosing populations in the production of financial capital. The Ascendancy of Finance provides valuable and unsettling insight into the genesis of modern power and where it truly resides.

Read more less

The global financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a system of informal decision-making in the grey zone between economics and politics. Legitimized by a rhetoric of emergency, ad hoc bodies have usurped democratically elected governments. In line with the neoliberal credo, the recent crisis has been used to realize the politically impossible and to re-align executive power with the interests of the finance industry. In this important book, Joseph Vogl offers a much longer perspective on these developments, showing how the dynamics of modern finance capitalism have always rested on a complex and constantly evolving relationship between private creditors and the state. Combining historical and theoretical analysis, Vogl argues that over the last three centuries, finance has become a "fourth estate," marked by the systematic interconnection of treasury and finance, of political and private economic interests. Against this historical background, Vogl explores the latest phase in the financialization of government, namely the dramatic transfer of power from states to markets in the latter half of the 20th century. From the liberalization of credit and capital markets to the privatization of social security, he shows how policy has actively enabled a restructuring of the economy around the financial sector. Political systems are "imprisoned" by the regime of finance, while the corporate model suffuses society, enclosing populations in the production of financial capital. The Ascendancy of Finance provides valuable and unsettling insight into the genesis of modern power and where it truly resides.

Read more less

In many western societies today the optimism of the 1990s and early 2000s has given way to a deep unease and sense of foreboding. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, many people feel worse off and the future seems bleak. The mood has changed – that’s clear. But what is ‘the mood’? How can feelings be shared by many people, and how do these shared feelings shape the course of events? In this book, the sociologist Heinz Bude offers a highly original analysis of this vital but neglected topic. Moods, he argues, are ways of being in the world. Moods shape how we experience the world, which feelings and thoughts suggest themselves to us and which are excluded. But moods are not purely private: on the contrary, they form the basic tone or colouring of our collective existence and experience. They are crucial in determining our political outlook and preferences, our attitudes and identities, and they provide much of the energy that underlies forms of collective action, including social movements that seem to appear suddenly from nowhere. With the growing significance of a politics of discontent, Bude’s insightful analysis of the power of collective moods could not be more relevant. His book will appeal to anyone wanting to understand how our societies are changing in these profoundly uncertain times.

Read more less