Financial speculation on reputational asset value generates neoliberalism’s own internal resistance.

Evidence

Michel Feher (2018) has put forward a bold thesis on the political role of finance in these recent developments: capital’s increased fixation on “asset value” speculation has “backfired,” so that neoliberalism now generates its own resistance—a spin on Marx’s “inherent contradiction” thesis. According to Feher, financialized economies now compete more intensely than ever for investment in perceived (that is, in “reputational”) value, while the rapid proliferation of social media-based evaluation technologies fires up mass speculation conflicts in wider society. Neoliberal capitalism’s unintended consequence thus becomes a threat to its own dominance. But even if openness to the unknown poses a threat to the status quo, it can also coexist with the regressive instincts of “order” that ultimately reaffirm neoliberalism’s legitimacy. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 70

Categorization

• XREF: Feher’s reputational-value thesis links to the reader’s interest in self-presentation as a speculative arena — dating profiles and social media as speculation on perceived value. — connects to: Neoliberal capital profits by commodifying resistance itself — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 531; Commodified resistance reinforces the individualization that finance depends on — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 532; Financial concepts contain their own utopian negation. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 62
• QUESTION: The author flags both a threat to status quo AND a coexistence with ‘order’ — worth chasing how Feher resolves this tension.