Neoliberal austerity has fused with speculative faith into a new capitalist spirit.

Evidence

Political economist Martijn Konings (2015) has argued that this coexistence of neoliberal reason and austerity with irrational markets and publics has not confirmed Weber’s prediction of the dilution of capitalism’s spirit. He calls the new spirit of the finance capitalism era “speculative austerity”—a state of affairs characterized by a novel type of faith in the redemptive power of speculation, which combines an iconoclastic belief in markets with an iconophile endorsement of the promise of austerity. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 76

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘speculative austerity’ as the novel spirit of finance capitalism, combining market iconoclasm with austerity iconophilia — central to the reader’s task of mapping speculative logic.
• XREF: Connects to Weber’s Protestant Ethic thesis and to Konings’ broader argument that neo-liberal reason has not diluted capitalism’s ascetic spirit; also relevant to the reader’s own financialized-populism thesis. — connects to: Broader neoliberal shifts enabled austerity’s return to economic common sense — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 406; Regressive populism and speculative finance are forming new alliances. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 57