Wang Hui: The End of the Revolution: China and the Limits of Modernity (2009)
Filed under book | Tags: · china, confucianism, economy, modernity, neoliberalism, new left, politics
“A compelling examination of the future of Chinese modernity by the leading member of China’s “New Left.”
Challenging both the bureaucratic one-party regime and the Western neoliberal paradigm, China’s leading critic shatters the myth of progress and reflects upon the inheritance of a revolutionary past. In this original and wide-ranging study, Wang Hui examines the roots of China’s social and political problems, and traces the reforms and struggles that have led to the current state of mass depoliticization.
Arguing that China’s revolutionary history and its current liberalization are part of the same discourse of modernity, Wang Hui calls for alternatives to both its capitalist trajectory and its authoritarian past.
From the May Fourth Movement to Tiananmen Square, The End of the Revolution offers a broad discussion of Chinese intellectual history and society, in the hope of forging a new path for China’s future.”
Publisher Verso, London, 2011
ISBN 1844673790, 9781844673797
274 pages
Review: Jeffrey Wasserstrom (Los Angeles Times, 2010).
PDF (updated on 2021-1-25)
Comments (2)Urs Stäheli: Spectacular Speculation: Thrills, the Economy, and Popular Discourse (2007/2013)
Filed under book | Tags: · economics, economy, finance, market, market economy, psychology, sociology, speculation
Spectacular Speculation is a history and sociological analysis of the semantics of speculation from 1870 to 1930, when speculation began to assume enormous importance in popular culture. Informed by the work of Luhmann, Foucault, Simmel and Deleuze, it looks at how speculation was translated into popular knowledge and charts the discursive struggles of making speculation a legitimate economic practice. Noting that the vocabulary available to discuss the concept was not properly economic, the book reveals the underside of putting it into words. Speculation’s success depended upon non-economic language and morally questionable thrills: a proximity to the wasteful practice of gambling or other “degenerate” behaviors, the experience of financial markets as seductive, or out of control. American discourses of speculation take center stage, and the book covers an unusual range of material, including stock exchange guidebooks, ticker tape, moral treatises, plays, advertisements, and newspapers.
Originally published in German as Spektakuläre Spekulation: Das Populäre der Ökonomie, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2007
Translated by Eric Savoth
Publisher Stanford University Press, 2013
ISBN 0804788251, 9780804788250
312 pages
Jens Beckert, Patrik Aspers (eds.): The Worth of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in the Economy (2011)
Filed under book | Tags: · art, economy, fashion, finance, market, sociology, value
How do we place value on goods – and, importantly, why? Valuation and pricing are core issues in the market economy, but understanding of these concepts and their interrelation is weak. In response, The Worth of Goods takes a sociological approach to the perennial but timely question of what makes a product valuable.
Structured in three parts, it first examines value in the broader sense – moral values and how they are formed, and the relations between economic and non-economic values – discussing such matters as the value of an oil spill, the price of a scientific paper, value in ethical consumption, and imaginative value. The second part discusses the issues surrounding valuation in aesthetic markets, specifically wine, fashion models, art, and the creative industries. The third part analyzes valuation in financial markets – credit rating agencies, stock exchange markets, and industrial production.
This pioneering volume brings together leading social scientists to provide a range of theoretical tools and case studies for understanding price and the creation of value in markets within social and cultural contexts and preconditions. It is an important source for scholars in economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science interested in how markets work, and how value is established.
– Interdisciplinary contributions from sociology, economics, political science, and marketing
– Presents empirical studies of both financial and some unusual markets – wine, art, fashion
– Pioneering work at intersection of sociology, economics, and marketing
– Chapters by leading international scholars in economic sociology
– Revisits both established theories of value and current thinking
Publisher Oxford University Press, 2011
ISBN 0199594643, 9780199594641
346 pages