Knowing Capitalism′This is an ambitious, original, and complex treatment of key aspects of contemporary capitalism. It makes a major contribution because it profoundly destabilizes the scholarship on globalization, the so-called new economy, information technology, distinct contemporary business cultures and practices′ - Saskia Sassen, author of Globalization and its Discontents ′Nigel Thrift offers us the sort of cultural analysis of global capitalism that has long been needed - one that emphasizes the innovative energy of global capitalism. The book avoids stale denouncements and offers instead a view of capitalism as a form of practice′ Capitalism is well known for producing a form of existence where `everything solid melts into air′. But what happens when capitalism develops theories about itself? Are we moving into a condition in which capitalism can be said to possess a brain? These questions are pursued in this sparkling and thought-provoking book. Thrift looks at what he calls ′the cultural circuit of capitalism′, the mechanism for generating new theories of capitalism. The book traces the rise of this circuit back to the 1960s when a series of institutions locked together to interrogate capitalism, to the present day, when these institutions are moving out to the Pacific basin and beyond. What have these theories produced? How have they been implicated in the speculative bubbles that characterized the late twentieth century? What part have they played in developing our understanding of human relations? Building on an inter-disciplinary approach which embraces the core social sciences, Thrift outlines an exciting new theory for understanding capitalism. His book is of interest to readers in geography, social theory, anthropology and cultural economics. |
From inside the book
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... can be performative onlybecause ofthe many means of producing stable repetitionwhich arenow available toitand whichconstitute its routine base (Miyazaki and Riles, 2004).2 Chief amongst these means of producing the everyday life of ...
... canbe found equallyin currency markets and on antiroad protests(Barry, 2001).Then, finally, capitalistfirms havetaken on someofthe languageandpractices ofthe opposition,moving froman emphasis on an overall strategy to something ...
... canbe something lighterandless encompassing. The chapters The 10chaptersthat follow all cleave tothe ideaof capitalism as a continual struggleto releasenew formsof representation that can capture how the world is,new formsof subject ...
... can be generalized out to an allpervasive cultural formation, usually throughits migration intothe symbolic realm. Second, capitalismcanbe elevated into something so selfevident that it canbe trundled on whenever aconnective explanation ...
... can be fought in new ways – ways which, toan unknownextent,can turn the major tenets of softcapitalism backon themselves ... canbe processed and transmitted per unit oftime (Perez, 1985).The second isthe increasing emphasis on innovation ...
Contents
The Globalization of Reflexive Business | |
Reengineering the SoulofCapitalism | |
Coauthor Kris Olds Part II The New Economy | |
The Automatic Production of Space | |
Closer to the Machine? Intelligent Environments New Forms | |
New ModelsofEveryday | |
Remembering the Technological Unconscious by Foregrounding | |
Index | |