Skip to main content

Demystifying Finance: How to Understand Financialization and Think of Strategies for a Good Society

  • Chapter
Alternative Perspectives of a Good Society

Abstract

In a recent special report of the Economist on financial risk, it was argued that “the idea that markets can be left to police themselves turned out to be the world’s most expensive mistake.”1 This rather unexpected remark reflects the fundamental inability of mainstream economists to interpret capitalist reality. Contrary to their insights, the world economy turned out to be a much more dangerous place. The recent economic crisis clearly shattered all the mainstream presumptions. However, not only did the mainstream economists misinterpret the capitalist reality but they also provided the necessary theoretical bedrock for the organization of the contemporary forms of class power. This is our main theoretical insight.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Althusser, L. and Balibar, E. (1997). Reading Capital. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, C. (2004). New Dialectic and Marx’s Capital. Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Badiou, A. (2010). The Communist Hypothesis. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balibar, E. (1995). The Philosophy of Marx. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryan, D. and Rafferty, M. (2006). Capitalism with Derivatives: A Political Economy of Financial Derivatives, Capital and Class. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryan, D., Martin, R., and Rafferty, M. (2009). “Financialization and Marx: Giving Labor and Capital a Financial Makeover.” Review of Radical Political Economics 41, 4: 458–472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callinicos, A. (2010). Bonfire of Illusions. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, P. (2002). Financial Markets, Money and the Real World. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Douzinas, C. and Zizek, C. (eds) (2010). The Idea of Communism. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewald, F. (1991). “Insurance and Risk.” In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, and P. Miller (eds), The Foucault Effect, Studies in Governmentality. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewald, F. (2002). “The Return of Descartes’s Malicious Demon: An Outline of a Philosophy of Precaution.” In T. Baker and J. Simon (eds), Embracing Risk, The Changing Culture of Insurance and Responsibility. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, B. (2010). “Locating Financialisation.” Historical Materialism, 18: 97–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2003). Society Must be Defended. Lectures at the College De France 1975–7. New York: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2007). Security, Territory, Population. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (2010). The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. London: Profile Books Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich, M. (1991). Die Wissenschaft vom Wert. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingham, G. (2008). Capitalism. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jameson, F (1997). “Culture and Finance Capital.” Critical Inquiry 24, 1: 246–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krippner, G. R. (2005). “The Financialization of American Economy.” Socio-Economic Review 3: 173–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LiPuma, E. and Lee, B. (2004). Financial Derivatives and the Globalization of Risk. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (2003). Risk: A Sociological Theory. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. (2002). Financialization of Daily Life. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. (2007). An Empire of Indifference. American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. (2009). “The Twin Tower of Financialization: Entanglements of Political and Cultural Economies.” The Global South 3, 1: 108–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1974). “Theorien Über Den Mehrwert.” In Marx Engels Werke (MEW), Vol. 26.3. Berlin: Dietz Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1990). Capital, Volume I. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1991). Capital, Volume III. London: Penguin Classics.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMurtry, J. (1999). The Cancer Stage of Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. C. (1994). “Influence of Mathematical Models in Finance on Practice: Past, Present and Future.” Philosophical Transactions: Physical Sciences and Engineering 347, 1684: 451–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milios, J., Dimoulis, D. and Economakis, G. (2002). Karl Marx and the Classics, An Essay on Value, Crisis and the Capitalist Mode of Production. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milios, J. and Sotiropoulos, D. P. (2009). Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist Rule. New York and Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Palley, I. T. (2004). “Asset-based Reserve Requirements: Reasserting Domestic Monetary Control in an Era of Financial Innovation and Instability.” Review of Political Economy 16, 1: 43–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rescher, N. (1983). Risk: A Philosophical Introduction to the Theory of Risk Evaluation and Management. New York: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiller, R. J. (2000). Irrational Exuberance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sotiropoulos, D. P. (2011). “Kalecki’s Dilemma: Toward a Marxian Political Economy of Neoliberalism.” Rethinking Marxism 23, 1: 100–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinherr, A. (2000). Derivatives: The Wild Beast of Finance. A Path to Effective Globalization. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W. (2009). “Four Books on Capitalism.” Socio-Economic Review 4, 7: 741–754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veblen, T. (1997). Absentee Ownership. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2012 John Marangos

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sotiropoulos, D.P., Milios, J., Lapatsioras, S. (2012). Demystifying Finance: How to Understand Financialization and Think of Strategies for a Good Society. In: Marangos, J. (eds) Alternative Perspectives of a Good Society. Perspectives from Social Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230337800_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics