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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Althusser, L. and Balibar, E. (1997). Reading Capital. London and New York: Verso.
Arthur, C. (2004). New Dialectic and Marx’s Capital. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Badiou, A. (2010). The Communist Hypothesis. London and New York: Verso.
Balibar, E. (1995). The Philosophy of Marx. London and New York: Verso.
Bryan, D. and Rafferty, M. (2006). Capitalism with Derivatives: A Political Economy of Financial Derivatives, Capital and Class. New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan.
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.
Callinicos, A. (2010). Bonfire of Illusions. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Davidson, P. (2002). Financial Markets, Money and the Real World. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.
Douzinas, C. and Zizek, C. (eds) (2010). The Idea of Communism. London and New York: Verso.
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.
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.
Fine, B. (2010). “Locating Financialisation.” Historical Materialism, 18: 97–116.
Foucault, M. (2003). Society Must be Defended. Lectures at the College De France 1975–7. New York: Picador.
Foucault, M. (2007). Security, Territory, Population. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harvey, D. (2010). The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. London: Profile Books Ltd.
Heinrich, M. (1991). Die Wissenschaft vom Wert. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag.
Ingham, G. (2008). Capitalism. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press.
Jameson, F (1997). “Culture and Finance Capital.” Critical Inquiry 24, 1: 246–265.
Krippner, G. R. (2005). “The Financialization of American Economy.” Socio-Economic Review 3: 173–208.
LiPuma, E. and Lee, B. (2004). Financial Derivatives and the Globalization of Risk. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Luhmann, N. (2003). Risk: A Sociological Theory. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.
Martin, R. (2002). Financialization of Daily Life. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Martin, R. (2007). An Empire of Indifference. American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Martin, R. (2009). “The Twin Tower of Financialization: Entanglements of Political and Cultural Economies.” The Global South 3, 1: 108–125.
Marx, K. (1974). “Theorien Über Den Mehrwert.” In Marx Engels Werke (MEW), Vol. 26.3. Berlin: Dietz Verlag.
Marx, K. (1990). Capital, Volume I. London: Penguin Books.
Marx, K. (1991). Capital, Volume III. London: Penguin Classics.
McMurtry, J. (1999). The Cancer Stage of Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.
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.
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.
Milios, J. and Sotiropoulos, D. P. (2009). Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist Rule. New York and Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
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.
Rescher, N. (1983). Risk: A Philosophical Introduction to the Theory of Risk Evaluation and Management. New York: University Press of America.
Shiller, R. J. (2000). Irrational Exuberance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sotiropoulos, D. P. (2011). “Kalecki’s Dilemma: Toward a Marxian Political Economy of Neoliberalism.” Rethinking Marxism 23, 1: 100–116.
Steinherr, A. (2000). Derivatives: The Wild Beast of Finance. A Path to Effective Globalization. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Streeck, W. (2009). “Four Books on Capitalism.” Socio-Economic Review 4, 7: 741–754.
Veblen, T. (1997). Absentee Ownership. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.
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
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230337800_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-29589-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-33780-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)