Agrarians and lay speculators shared a speculative imagination despite resource limits.

Evidence

But, beyond the new enmities, unexpected alliances also began to form among the vanquished of these battles of speculation. My contention in the present chapter is that agrarians and lay speculators of that time developed a shared speculative imagination that came to define modern capitalism’s history of financial inclusion (and exclusion): a willingness to take a stake in the future’s uncertainty for economic and political benefit, despite a dearth of available resources and limited access to “expert knowledge.” — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 111

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘speculative imagination’ in concrete terms as taking a stake in future uncertainty despite scarce resources and limited expert access — the load-bearing concept of the chapter.
• XREF: connects to: Gilded Age agrarian populists combined speculative imagination with nativism and racism — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 439