Radicalized uncertainty pushes societies to adopt finance as a model for imagining the future

Evidence

Capitalist societies have always relied on their capacity to anticipate, imagine, and speculate on the future in order to navigate its uncertainty and volatility. But what happens to our power of imagination in the era of populist demagogues, “fake news,” and “culture wars,” when uncertainty becomes radicalized and the boundary between reality and fiction fades away? Deep economic, political, and environmental crises have marked the twenty-first century’s first two decades. The world over, trust in public institutions and scientific knowledge is eroding, liberal democracies are becoming hollowed out, and a global tide of nationalist populism is on a precipitous rise. Our era seems to be on a hinge. Time itself feels anxious and unpredictable, while prevailing orthodoxies are shaken in both economy and polity. As societies strive to formulate responses to the volatile conditions wrought by these profound shake-ups, their need for orienting narratives and myths becomes even greater (Beckert 2016; Bottici 2007). And as we anxiously search for cues with which to imagine such narratives and myths, finance becomes the model for society writ large. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 18

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Beckert’s ‘imagined futures’ concept from the cited reference; also connects to the reader’s stated thesis on financialized populism as speculative betting. — connects to: Planned chance serves as an alibi for rationalized society — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 113; Financialization treats risk as probabilisable, displacing close knowledge of the object valued — Ève Chiapello, Financialisation of Valuation, 35; Uncertainty deepens societies’ need for narratives and makes finance their model — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 36 (+3 more)