DOCSLIB.ORG

Imagined Futures: Fictionality in Economic Action

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Imagined Futures: Fictionality in Economic Action A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Beckert, Jens Working Paper Imagined futures. Fictionality in economic action MPIfG Discussion Paper, No. 11/8 Provided in Cooperation with: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), Cologne Suggested Citation: Beckert, Jens (2011) : Imagined futures. Fictionality in economic action, MPIfG Discussion Paper, No. 11/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/45621 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/ 8 Imagined Futures Fictionality in Economic Action Jens Beckert Jens Beckert Imagined Futures: Fictionality in Economic Action MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/8 Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne May 2011 MPIfG Discussion Paper ISSN 0944-2073 (Print) ISSN 1864-4325 (Internet) © 2011 by the author(s) Jens Beckert is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. [email protected] MPIfG Discussion Papers are refereed scholarly papers of the kind that are publishable in a peer-reviewed disciplinary journal. Their objective is to contribute to the cumulative improvement of theoretical knowl- edge. The papers can be ordered from the institute for a small fee (hard copies) or downloaded free of charge (PDF). Downloads www.mpifg.de Go to Publications / Discussion Papers Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Paulstr. 3 | 50676 Cologne | Germany Tel. +49 221 2767-0 Fax +49 221 2767-555 www.mpifg.de [email protected] Beckert: Imagined Futures iii Abstract Starting from the assumption that decision situations in economic contexts are char- acterized by fundamental uncertainty, the paper argues that the decision-making of intentionally rational actors is anchored in fictions. “Fictionality” in economic action is the inhabitation in the mind of an imagined future state of the world and the beliefs in causal mechanisms leading to this future state. Actors are motivated in their actions by the imagined future and organize their activities based on these mental representations. Since these representations are not confined to empirical reality, fictionality is also a source of creativity in the economy. Fictionality opens up a way to an understanding of the microfoundations of the dynamics of the economy. The paper develops the notion of fictional expectations and applies it to investments, consumption and money. The last part relates the notion of fiction to calculation and social macrostructures as two other devices of decision-making and hints at the relevance of fictionality for the mac- rodynamics of capitalism. Zusammenfassung Entscheidungshandeln in wirtschaftlichen Kontexten findet unter Bedingungen fun- damentaler Ungewissheit statt. Ausgehend von dieser Annahme argumentiert das Pa- pier, dass Entscheidungen intentional rationaler Akteure in Fiktionen verankert sind. „Fiktio nalität“ umfasst die Vorstellungen des zukünftigen Zustands der Welt und der kausalen Mechanismen, die zu diesem Zustand führen. Akteure werden durch diese Imaginationen der Zukunft motiviert und organisieren ihre Handlungen auf ihrer Grundlage. Da die Vorstellungen nicht an die empirische Realität gebunden sind, ist Fiktionalität auch eine Quelle der Kreativität. Fiktionalität eröffnet so einen Weg zum Verständnis der Mikrofundierung wirtschaftlicher Dynamik. Das Papier entwickelt das Konzept der fiktionalen Erwartungen und wendet es auf Investitionen, Konsum und Geld an. Im letzten Teil wird das Verhältnis von Fiktionen zur Rolle von Kalkulation und sozialen Makrostrukturen in der Entscheidungsfindung erörtert und die Relevanz von Fiktionalität für die Makrodynamik des Kapitalismus angedeutet. iv MPIfG Discussion Paper 10 / 8 Contents 1 Decision-making in economics and sociology 2 Economics 2 Economic sociology 3 2 From rational expectations to fictional expectations 4 Fictionality 5 Fictions as stories 7 Fictions and economic dynamics 9 Fictions as a basis for action 10 Literary and non-literary fictions 11 3 Fictionality in economic action 12 Investment decisions 12 Consumption 17 Trust and money 18 4 The role of calculation and social macrostructures 21 Calculation and fictionality 21 Macrostructures and fictionality 23 5 Conclusion 24 References 26 Beckert: Imagined Futures 1 Imagined Futures: Fictionality in Economic Action [There are matters about which] there is no scientific basis on which to form any calculable probability whatever. We simply do not know. Nevertheless, the necessity for action and for decision com- pels us as practical men to do our best to overlook this awkward fact … (Keynes 1973[1937]: 213) On what basis do actors make decisions in economic contexts? According to economic theory, decisions are based on rational calculations of the outcomes associated with the various possible choices. Following sociological approaches to the economy, decisions are anchored in social structures, especially institutions, networks, and cultural frames. In this paper, I want to add a different perspective on the question of the micro-foun- dations of economic action, giving weight to a much underemphasized aspect of it. Starting from the assumption that decision situations in economic contexts are charac- terized by fundamental uncertainty, I argue that the decision-making of intentionally rational actors is anchored in fictions. By “fictions” I refer to images of some future state of the world or course of events which are cognitively accessible in the present through mental representation. “Fictionality” in economic action is the inhabitation in the mind of an imagined future state of the world. Actors are motivated in their actions by the imagined future state and organize their activities based on these mental representa- tions. Since these representations are not confined to empirical reality, fictionality is also a source of creativity in the economy. Fictional expectations in the economy take narrative form as stories, theories, and discourses. Including fictionality in a theory of decision-making opens up a way to an understanding of the microfoundations of the dynamics of the economy. I first provide a brief overview of various approaches in economics and economic so- ciology to the explanation of economic decision-making. This will sharpen the point of departure advanced in the article. Second, I develop the notion of fictional expecta- tions to be applied here and its role in the constitution of action in economic contexts and especially the creativity of action. In the third part, I illustrate the role of fiction in the contexts of investments, consumption, and money. In the last section, I relate the notion of fiction to the role of calculation and social macrostructures in economic decision-making. Finally, in the conclusion I hint at the relevance of fictional expecta- tions for the macrodevelopment of the economy. For helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper I would like to thank David Dequech, Christoph Deutschmann, Arne Dreßler, Martin Hellwig, Sophie Mützel, and Werner Rammert. 2 MPIfG Discussion Paper 10 / 8 1 Decision-making in economics and sociology Economics Economic theory assumes that actors make choices based on rational calculations (Wil- liamson 1993). Assuming a fixed set of preferences, given factor endowments and re- strictions, actors calculate the choice which maximizes their expected utility. To do so, actors systematically scrutinize all possible alternative combinations and calculate the consequences of all options. This makes it possible to arrange the various options in a rank order of utility and to construct complete indifference maps across all feasible trade-offs. The macroeconomic result is an equilibrium which can be deduced math- ematically based on the starting conditions and the assumptions made in the theory. The future enters into the decision models of economics in the form of rational expec- tations (Muth 1961; Lucas 1972). Assuming market pressures and the systematic use of all available information, rational expectations theory states that the predictions actors form with regard to economically relevant variables in the future are correct, in the aggregate, because all individual errors are random. Hence, the predicted outcomes do not differ systematically from the resulting
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Bernhard Ebbinghaus List of Publications (6/2021) (ORCID: 1-9838-8813)
    Bernhard Ebbinghaus List of Publications (6/2021) (ORCID: 1-9838-8813) I. Monographs, edited volumes & special issues 2021 (with J. Timo Weishaupt) (eds.): The Role of Social Partners in Managing Europe’s Great Recession: Crisis Corporatism or Corporatism in Crisis? Abingdon/New York: Routledge (Routledge Studies in the Political Economy of the Welfare State). ISBN 9781032029740 (hbk., 30 July 2021). 2018 (with Elias Naumann)(eds.): Welfare State Reforms Seen from Below: Comparing Public Attitudes and Organized Interests in Britain and Germany, London: Palgrave Macmillan). Hardcover (ISBN 978-3-319-63651-1): http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319636511 ebook (Springer Link, Dec. 2017): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-63652-8 2015 (with Thomas Bahle & Claudia Göbel): Familien am Rande der Erwerbsgesellschaft: Erwerbs- risiken und soziale Sicherung familiärer Risikogruppen im europäischen Vergleich [Employment societies’ peripheral families: Employment risks and social security of family risk groups in European comparison]. Baden-Baden: Nomos / Edition Sigma (ISBN 978-3-84872615-8) 2013 (a) Co-editor (with J. Timo Weishaupt & Claus Wendt): Der Umbau des Wohlfahrtsstaates in Krisenzeiten: Institutioneller Wandel in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich [Restructuring welfare states during crisis: Institutional change in Germany in international comparison]. Special issue for Zeitschrift für Sozialreform 59(3), 279-410. 2013 (b) Co-editor (with Marius R. Busemeyer, Stephan Leibfried, Nicole Mayer-Ahuja, Herbert Obinger & Birgit Pfau-Effinger): Wohlfahrtspolitik im 21. Jahrhundert: Neue Wege der Forschung [Welfare policies in the 21st century: New frontiers of research]. Frankfurt: Campus. [ISBN 978-3593399034] 2012 Co-editor (with Noel Whiteside & Mitchell A. Orenstein): Special issue on “European funded pensions and their governance in times of uncertainty”, Global Social Policy, 12 (3) 2012, 241-344.
    [Show full text]
  • Economic Sociology and Capitalism 2
    economic sociology_ the european electronic newsletter Vol ume 18, N umber 1 | November 20 16 18.1 Editor Sascha Münnich, University of Göttingen Book Reviews Editor Lisa Suckert, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Editorial Board Patrik Aspers, Uppsala University Jens Beckert, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne Johan Heilbron, Centre de Sociologie Européenne, Paris Richard Swedberg, Cornell University, Ithaca Table of Contents Note from the editor: Economic Sociology and capitalism _2 Understanding the ‘Economic’ in New Economic Sociology by Jan Sparsam_6 Sociology and capitalism research by Klaus Kraemer_18 Interview: Economic Sociology and capitalism Christoph Deutschmann interviewed by Sascha Münnich _29 Book Reviews_ 38 http://econsoc.mpifg.de Note from the editor 2 Note from the editor Economic Sociology and capitalism not been fostered by a society-wide ‘sudden love’ for capi- talism or radical liberalism, but depended, as it had always The tides of economic sociology are intimately linked to done, on capitalism’s capacity to promise and secure stabil- the fate of the market in modern societies, particularly its ity, growth and a high standard of living, at least for those impact as a dominant blueprint for the formation of eco- groups (of employers and workers alike) who could stand nomic relations. In one of the founding scripts of New the test of global free trade. The financial crisis reminded Economic Sociology, Swedberg claimed that sociology had everybody of capitalism’s resilient habit to not care about lost interest in markets as social arenas after the age of the stability of the whole system if that comes into conflict classical sociologists (Swedberg 2003: 266).
    [Show full text]
  • Capitalism and Labor Has Become a Standard Work on This Subject
    Social theory has largely abandoned a focus on ›labor‹ and with it its empirical foundation, while Klaus Dörre, Nicole Mayer-Ahuja, Dieter Sauer, the sociology of work has neglected the produc- Volker Wittke (eds.) tion of theory more generally. It is for precise- ly this reason that Capitalism and Labor has become a standard work on this subject. Labor and employment relations have become and LaborCapitalism both increasingly diverse as well as less secure Capitalism and Labor while, at the same time, labor and distribution- al struggles are being waged ever more fierce- Towards Critical Perspectives ly. Adequately grasping these changes requires innovative impulses emerging from the analysis of capitalism, just as the sociology of work has a lot to contribute to the former. In this translated and updated edition the authors discuss current theoretical approaches in an attempt to once again conceive capitalism and labor together. Dörre, Mayer-Ahuja, Sauer, Wittke Sauer, Dörre, Mayer-Ahuja, ISBN 978-3-593-50897-9 ] D [ 39,95 € Internationale Arbeitsstudien International Labour Studies Capitalism and Labor International Labour Studies – Internationale Arbeitsstudien Edited by Klaus Dörre und Stephan Lessenich Volume 16 Klaus Dörre, Dr., is Professor for the Sociology of Work at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Nicole Mayer-Ahuja, Dr., is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Sociolgical Research Institute (SOFI) at the Georg August University, Göttingen. Dieter Sauer, Dr., is a senior researcher at the Institute for Social Science Research (ISF), München. Volker Wittke (1957–2012), Dr., was Professor at the Sociolgical Research Insti- tute (SOFI) at the Georg August University, Göttingen.
    [Show full text]
  • Capitalism Ln Transformation Movements and Countermovements in the 21St Century
    Capitalism ln Transformation Movements and Countermovements in the 21st Century Edited by Roland Atzmüller Johannes Kepler University, Austria Brigitte Aulenbacher Johannes Kepler Univers ity, Aus tria Ulrich Brand University of Vienna, Austria Fabienne Döcieux Johannes Kepler University, Austria Karin Fischer Johannes Kepler Univers ity, Aus tria Birgit Sauer University of Vienn,a, Austria EE H$X*l* Ergar Cheltenham, UK. Northampton, MA, USA Contents Gr Roland Atzmüiler, Brigitte Aulenbacher, ulrich Brand, Fabienne Döcieux, Karin Fischer and Birgit Sauer 2019 List of contributors vlll All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a 1 Polanyian perspectives on the movements and mechanical or retrieial system or tranimitted in any form or by any means' electronic, countennovements of "our time": an introduction or otherwise without the prior permission ofthe publisher. photocopying, recording, Roland Atzmüller, Brigitte Aulenbacher, Ulrich Brand, Döcieux, Karin Fischer and Birgit Sauer Published by Fabienne Edward Elgar Publishing Limited The Lypiatts PART I HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL l5 Lansdown Road REFLECTIONS: KARL POLANYI' Cheltenham CAPITALISM AND SOCIETY Glos GL50 2JA UK 2 A life-long search for freedom. From Budapest to journey through Karl Polanyi's life 22 Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. America and back: a William Pratt House Kari Polanyi-Levitt, interviewed by Michael Brie and 9 Dewey Court Claus Thomasberger Northampton Massachusetts 01060 3 "Plunges into utter destruction" and the limits ofhistorical
    [Show full text]
  • The Social Order of Markets Jens Beckert
    MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/15 The Social Order of Markets Jens Beckert Jens Beckert The Social Order of Markets MPIfG Discussion Paper 07 / 15 Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne December 2007 MPIfG Discussion Paper ISSN 0944-2073 (Print) ISSN 1864-4325 (Internet) © 2007 by the author(s) Jens Beckert is director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. [email protected] MPIfG Discussion Papers are refereed scholarly papers of the kind that are publishable in a peer-reviewed disciplinary journal. Their objective is to contribute to the cumulative improvement of theoretical knowl- edge. The papers can be ordered from the institute for a small fee (hard copies) or downloaded free of charge (PDF). Downloads www.mpifg.de Go to Publications / Discussion Papers Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Paulstr. 3 | 50676 Cologne | Germany Tel. +49 221 2767-0 Fax +49 221 2767-555 www.mpifg.de [email protected] Abstract In this article I develop a proposal for the theoretical vantage point of the sociology of markets, focusing on the problem of the social order of markets. The initial premise is that markets are highly demanding arenas of social interaction, which can only operate if three inevitable coordination problems are resolved. I define these coordination prob- lems as the value problem, the problem of competition and the cooperation problem. I show that these problems can only be resolved based on stable reciprocal expectations on the part of market actors, which have their basis in the socio-structural, institutional and cultural embedding of markets.
    [Show full text]
  • Capitalism As a System of Fictional Expectations1 Toward a Sociological Microfoundation of Political Economy Jens Beckert Max Pl
    Capitalism as a System of Fictional Expectations1 Toward a Sociological Microfoundation of Political Economy Jens Beckert Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Paulstr. 3, 50367 Köln, Germany [email protected] Abstract Political economy and economic sociology have developed in relative isolation from each other. While political economy focuses largely on macro phenomena, economic sociology focuses on the embeddedness of economic action. The article argues that economic sociology can provide a microfoundation of political economy beyond rational actor theory and behavioral economics from which to explain the dynamics of capitalism. At the same time political economy offers a unifying research framework to economic sociology with its focus on the explanation of capitalist dynamics. Based on a discussion of what I call the four Cs of capitalism (credit, commodification, creativity, and competition), I argue that under conditions of uncertainty expectations should be understood as “fictional expectations.” The capability of humans to imagine future states of the world that can be different from the present is the central basis for a sociological microfoundation of economic macro-phenomena. Macroeconomic dynamics depend on these “fictional expectations” which create motifs for engaging in potentially profitable but incalculable outcomes. This shifts attention to the “management of expectations” as a crucial element of economic activity and to the institutional, political and cultural foundations of expectations. The reproduction of capitalism is precarious also because of the contingency of expectations conducive to its growth. Biographical sketch Jens Beckert is Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne and Professor of Sociology at the University of Cologne.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Jens Beckert and Christine Musselin1 How Can We
    Introduction Jens Beckert and Christine Musselin1 How can we engage in a market relationship when the quality of the goods we want to acquire is unknown, invisible, or uncertain? This is the question addressed in this book. Each chapter focuses on situations where quality is highly uncertain: such situations provide excellent opportunities to analyze how quality is the outcome of a construction process involving producers, consumers, and market intermediaries. This book is a contribution to the study of the sociology of markets. We are interested in the role of “quality” for the development of markets. Here “quality” refers to the explicit and implicit, visible and invisible aspects of a good, service, or person being valued. Qualities create incentives or disincentives for purchasing decisions on markets. For market exchange to be possible, purchasers and suppliers of goods must be able to assess the qualities of a product in relation to other products. This holds true for consumer markets, labor markets, and investments. “How could we describe, in practice and theory, the structures of competition within the same market, or between related markets, if relations of similitude or dissimilitude between the goods that circulate could not be established?” (Callon, Méadel, and Rabeharisoa 2002: 196). Only by recognizing quality and perceiving differences in quality can purchasers make nonrandom choices and can the price differences between goods in a market be justified. “Quality” is not something that is naturally given, but the outcome of a collective process in which products become seen as possessing certain traits and occupying a specific position in relation to other products in the product space.
    [Show full text]
  • Imagined Futures: Fictional Expectations in the Economy
    Imagined futures: Fictional expectations in the economy Jens Beckert Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Cologne Forthcoming: Theory & Society Biographical sketch Jens Beckert is Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne and Professor of Sociology at the University of Cologne. He has held visiting positions at Princeton University, Harvard University, Cornell University, the European University Institute, Sciences Po an the institut d’études avancées in Paris. The main focus of his research is economic sociology with a special emphasis on markets, organization studies, the sociology of inheritance and social theory. He is the author of two monographs on the sociology of markets (Princeton University Press 2002) and on the sociology of inheritance (PUP 2008). His articles have been published in journals such as Theory & Society, Sociological Theory, Organization Studies and the European Journal of Sociology. 1 Abstract Starting from the assumption that decision situations in economic contexts are characterized by fundamental uncertainty, the article argues that the decision-making of intentionally rational actors is anchored in fictions. "Fictionality" in economic action is the inhabitation in the mind of an imagined future state of the world and the beliefs in causal mechanisms leading to this future state. Actors are motivated in their actions by the imagined future and organize their activities based on these mental representations. Since these representations are not confined to empirical reality, fictional expectations are also a source of creativity in the economy. Fictionality opens up a way to an understanding of the microfoundations of the dynamics of the economy.
    [Show full text]
  • Money-Games As an Analytical Framework for Understanding the Emergence of Crypto-Coins
    Money-games as an analytical framework for understanding the emergence of crypto-coins Moritz Hütten, [email protected] Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main A contribution to the International Conference on Public Policy, Milan, July 1 - July 4, 2015 Introduction The recent and still ongoing financial crisis has sparked an increased interest in the topic of money. Positions that have been taken for granted have become more uncertain, and questions regarding the nature and functions of money have become more prominent. This interest not only has fueled an academic body of research regarding the topic, but it also has inspired practical experiments by various activist groups to establish alternative forms of money. In this paper, I will explore the emergence of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as a representative of such an experiment. In this regard, I will focus on what I believe to be the most controversial aspect of Bitcoin: the idea that it could indeed be money. While there seems to be little dispute about the underlying technology being substantial, the same cannot be said about the proposition of Bitcoins being a form of money.1 To understand how Bitcoin could be money, I will build on the writings of Heiner Ganssmann and Nigel Dodd. Central to my approach will be a proposition I have found with Ganssmann to think of money in terms of a money game where money receives its "meaning" from the rules of the game (see Ganssmann 2002). Ganssmann suggests the idea of a simple money game. I want to further bolster this concept by including consideration of Nigel Dodd about money functioning before a social background.
    [Show full text]
  • Fictional Expectations and the Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism
    New frontiers in Economic Sociology: Capitalism and sociological Theory 39 New Frontiers in Economic Sociology: Capitalism and Sociological Theory Fictional expectations and the crisis of contemporary capitalism By Jens BeckertBeckert** The future-oriented temporal order of capitalism is institu- tionally anchored. It is anchored in the increasing organiza- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, tion of economic exchange via competitive markets and [email protected] the growing use of credit. Competition forces every actor to constantly anticipate being ousted by his competitors Imagined Futures. Fictional Expectations and Capitalist and thus pressures everyone into proactively inventing new Dynamics by Jens Beckert will be published by Harvard products or altering existing ones, changing the organiza- University Press in June 2016. tion of production, or improving skills in order to remain competitive. Such pro-activeness then requires all other actors in the market to act likewise. Credit, according to Schumpeter, is a right to own goods at a point in time It is perhaps the Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotzias who, when a “normal claim” (Schumpeter 1934: 214) to these in an interview in the spring of 2015, best expressed what I goods does not (yet) exist. Success is only achieved if the will argue here: the worst of the crisis in Greece, Kotzias value of the goods sold on the market is higher than the stated, is that it made people stop dreaming about the invested value, so that the credit plus interest can be re- future. Stopping to believe in the future as a “place” of paid. Capitalism as a credit-based economy is therefore opportunities undermines all efforts needed to work dependent on growth.
    [Show full text]
  • Capitalism, Religion and the Idea of the Demonic
    Working Paper 02/2012 der DFG-KollegforscherInnengruppe Postwachstumsgesellschaften Christoph Deutschmann Capitalism, Religion and the Idea of the Demonic ISSN 2194-136X Christoph Deutschmann: Capitalism, Religion and the Idea of the Demonic. Working Paper der DFG- KollegforscherInnengruppe Postwachstumsgesellschaften, Nr. 02/2012, Jena 2012. Impressum © bei den AutorInnen DFG-Kolleg- ForscherInnengruppe – Postwachstumsgesellschaften Humboldtstraße 34 07743 Jena Internet: www.kolleg-postwachstum.de Redaktion: Dr. Hanno Pahl, [email protected] Lektorat/Layout: Katharina Osthoff (M.A.), [email protected] Die DFG-KollegforscherInnengruppe „Landnahme, Beschleunigung, Aktivierung. Dynamik und (De-) Stabilisierung moderner Wachstumsgesellschaften“ – kurz: „Kolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaften“ – setzt an der soziologischen Diagnose multipler gesellschaftlicher Umbruchs- und Krisenphänomene an, die in ihrer Gesamtheit das überkommene Wachstumsregime moderner Gesellschaften in Frage stellen. Die strukturellen Dynamisierungsimperative der kapitalistischen Moderne stehen heute selbst zur Dis- position: Die Steigerungslogik fortwährender Landnahmen, Beschleunigungen und Aktivierungen bringt weltweit historisch neuartige Gefährdungen der ökonomischen, ökologischen und sozialen Reproduk- tion hervor. Einen Gegenstand in Veränderung – die moderne Wachstumsgesellschaft – vor Augen, zielt das Kolleg auf die Entwicklung von wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsweisen und auf eine Praxis des kri- tischen Dialogs, mittels derer der übliche Rahmen hochgradig
    [Show full text]
  • The Transcending Power of Goods: Imaginative Value in the Economy
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Beckert, Jens Working Paper The transcending power of goods: Imaginative value in the economy MPIfG Discussion Paper, No. 10/4 Provided in Cooperation with: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), Cologne Suggested Citation: Beckert, Jens (2010) : The transcending power of goods: Imaginative value in the economy, MPIfG Discussion Paper, No. 10/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/39235 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons
    [Show full text]