Marx and Weber framed speculation’s contradictions but ignored imagination’s role in capitalism
Evidence
Both Marx and Weber, then, begin to offer tentative outlines of homo speculans, the rising hegemonic subject of early finance capitalism, by bringing its inherent contradictions into sharp focus: for Marx the core tension embodied in the abstracting forces of speculation was between fictitious (unreal) and material (real) values, while for Weber the defining conflict was that between the rationality and irrationality of speculative endeavors. For all their merits, however, their analyses do not engage directly with the unique type of imagination cutting through this ilk of contradiction, the profound force thrusting late industrial societies to the dizzying adventure of speculation—what I have so far called speculative imagination. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 228
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces and defines ‘homo speculans’ — the rising subject of early finance capitalism — and ‘speculative imagination’ as the book’s key analytic term.
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s finance/imagination theme: Marx’s fictitious vs material value tension resurfaces throughout the book’s claims about how speculation reshapes social imagination. — connects to: Marx saw workers’ alienation as rooted in imagination’s ideological capture — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 219; Marx and Weber avoided theorizing imagination because they rejected Romantic liberalism — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 229; Finance capitalism’s power struggles are fundamentally contests over speculative imagination — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 148 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Finance capitalism’s power struggles are fundamentally contests over speculative imagination
#expands(0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 148 - Legitimacy of speculation was fought over competing forms of imagination
#expands(0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 188 - The spirit of capitalism shifts from risk-taking to uncertainty-endorsing speculation.
#expands(0.78) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 79 - Speculation now pervades economic, social, and political life as an imagined collective enactment
#expands(0.78) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 85 - Economic expectations are products of imagination rather than reason.
#expands(0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 137