{"title":"Property, credit, and monetary sabotage: Contemporary capitalism in institutionalist perspective","authors":"Florian Penz, Sabine Frerichs","doi":"10.1177/13684310241269286","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Capitalism is a social order that evolves over time. While market exchange, private property, and the profit motive are generic features of capitalist systems, studies of contemporary capitalism aim to highlight what is specific about capitalism today. In this article, we develop the concept of monetary sabotage to pinpoint a phenomenon that has become more pronounced in recent decades, but which has not been sufficiently elaborated so far. Monetary sabotage refers to the utilization and, eventually, manipulation of the monetary infrastructure for private profit, creating instability and perpetuating inequality. Drawing on old institutionalism, with its emphasis on law, and articulating it with contemporary theories of credit and insights from the sociology of money, our analysis highlights the evolution of incorporate and intangible property as premises for financial profit-making at the expense of the public. This institutionalist approach adds new insights to the prevailing financialization literature and complements other critical perspectives.","PeriodicalId":47808,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Social Theory","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310241269286","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Capitalism is a social order that evolves over time. While market exchange, private property, and the profit motive are generic features of capitalist systems, studies of contemporary capitalism aim to highlight what is specific about capitalism today. In this article, we develop the concept of monetary sabotage to pinpoint a phenomenon that has become more pronounced in recent decades, but which has not been sufficiently elaborated so far. Monetary sabotage refers to the utilization and, eventually, manipulation of the monetary infrastructure for private profit, creating instability and perpetuating inequality. Drawing on old institutionalism, with its emphasis on law, and articulating it with contemporary theories of credit and insights from the sociology of money, our analysis highlights the evolution of incorporate and intangible property as premises for financial profit-making at the expense of the public. This institutionalist approach adds new insights to the prevailing financialization literature and complements other critical perspectives.
期刊介绍:
An internationally respected journal with a wide-reaching conception of social theory, the European Journal of Social Theory brings together social theorists and theoretically-minded social scientists with the objective of making social theory relevant to the challenges facing the social sciences in the 21st century. The European Journal of Social Theory aims to be a worldwide forum of social thought. The Journal welcomes articles on all aspects of the social, covering the whole range of contemporary debates in social theory. Reflecting some of the commonalities in European intellectual life, contributors might discuss the theoretical contexts of issues such as the nation state, democracy, citizenship, risk; identity, social divisions, violence, gender and knowledge.