Clara Sacchetti, Todd Dufresne (Eds.) - The Economy as Cultural System Theory, Capitalism, Crisis - Bloomsbury Academic, Uk, 17.01.2013

The 2008 global crisis, unemployment, lack of retirement funds, bank bailouts... today, the "economy" is on everyone's mind. But what makes this rather opaque concept work? This collection of essays seeks out the answer by exploring contemporary capitalism from a variety of theoretical perspectives and by confronting the economy as a cultural system, a theory, and a driving force of every day life in the West. 

The first part of the book discusses past and present representation of capitalism (from Hegel and Marx to Negri and Florida) along with their continuing impact. The second part focuses on capitalism as a locus of power and resistance, and maps possible responses to the current situation. The roles of metaphor and discourse is examined throughout to rethink the implications of power in the context of globalization and consumer culture.

Each chapter features an abstract, study questions, as well as further reading suggestions, which, along with its accessible theoretical coverage, will make the book an essential study tool for students in social and political thought, globalization, and social theory.

Table of Contents

Preface

Todd Dufresne

Introduction: The Economy as Cultural System: Theory, Capitalism, Crisis

Clara Sacchetti

1. The I/Eye of Capital: Classical Theoretical Perspectives on the Spectral Economies of Late Capitalism 

Thomas M. Kemple

2. Can't Buy Me Love: Psychiatric Capitalism and the Economics of Happiness

Joel Faflak

3. Metaphoric Wealth: Finance, Financialization, and the End of Narrative

Max Haiven 

4. The Burden of Metaphor: Marx's Vampires, Populist Politics, and the Dialectics of Capitalist Abstraction

Matthew MacLellan

5. Critical Theory Against the Dispossession of Needs: From Perpetual Crisis to Social Engagement

Tim Kaposy

6. Finance and the Social Time of Aging: Toward a Synthesis

Justin Sully

7. The Work Idea: Wage Slavery, Bullshit, and the Good Infinite 

Mark Kingwell

8. The Uniqueness of Late Capitalism: Biopower and Biopolitics

Kezia Picard
9. Place, Creativity, and Richard Florida: On the Aesthetics of Economic Development

Todd Dufresne and Clara Sacchetti

10. Franco "Bifo" Berardi & the Future of Capitalism: "We Have to Run Along The Line of Catastrophe"

Andrew Pendakis

Todd Dufresne is Professor of Philosophy, founding Director of The Advanced Institute for Globalization & Culture.

 From 2008-2010 he was Research Chair of Social & Cultural Theory at Lakehead University, Canada. He teaches in the areas of Continental philosophy, film, cultural studies, and social and political philosophy and is the author of several books.

Clara Sacchetti  is an Adjunct Professor for Philosophy and  a sessional lecturer for Women's Studies. Her areas of interest include studies in feminist theory, post-colonial history, and postmodernism. She has published feature articles and reviews in FUSE Magazine, Boston Book Review, CAN, and The Semiotic Review of Books.