Material Cultures of Financialisation

This collection offers pathbreaking framing of the material culture of financialisation. It begins with a tight definition of financialisation in order to distinguish the phenomenon of financialisation from its effects and from the looser associations prevalent within much of the literature such as the presence of credit or even simply (more extensive) monetary relations. To locate financialisation within economic and social reproduction, of which material culture is a part, close attention is paid to the distinctive forms of financialisation arising from commodification, commodity form and commodity calculation. The differences in the extent to which, and how, these prevail are addressed through the innovative system of provision approach and its framing of material culture through use of ten distinctive attributes of such cultures, known as the 10Cs (Constructed, Construed, Conforming, Commodified, Contextual, Contradictory, Closed, Contested, Collective and Chaotic). This framing of the cultures attached to financialisation is then illustrated through case studies demonstrating the diverse ways in which shifting cultures have served to embed financialisation in our daily lives. After a discussion of the material culture of financialisation itself there are two sector examples which review financial cultures in the provision of water and housing. These are followed by considerations of financialisation in financial literacy and financial inclusion, the media and, finally, well-being.

The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of New Political Economy.

Kate Bayliss is a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London and Research Fellow at University of Leeds, UK. For over two decades she has been conducting research into the nature and impact of privatisation in the provision of infrastructure and essential services, working with UN Agencies, governments and Civil Society.

Ben Fine is Professor of Economics at SOAS, University of London, UK. His books have won both the Gunnar Myrdal Prize and the Deutscher Prize. He Chairs the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (iippe.org).

Mary Robertson is Head of Economic Policy for the Leader of the Labour Party. She has a MSc and PhD in Economics from SOAS, University of London, and previously worked at Leeds University Business School and the University of Greenwich, UK.