Speculation re-enchants collectivities by projecting broken promises onto shared futures
Evidence
If all this seems nonsensical, that is because at the heart of this logic lies a paradox. What do speculative agents stand to gain from their wholehearted acceptance of failed promises if not their inclusion in capitalism’s reward system? In what follows, I suggest that while the speculative imagination leaves a set of political promises unfulfilled, it does nonetheless project those broken promises onto a collective realm that is conjured around new political myths and shared narratives of the future. In doing so, speculation pries open possibilities that swell over social and political life. As I will show in part 3, this radically different understanding of speculating subjects and their motivations can lead to both regressive and progressive “collectivizations” of uncertainty—and to different corresponding types of speculative communities. Speculation absolves uncertainty by breathing new life into social groups that have suffered loss of certainty, security, and stability, thus re-enchanting collectivities. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 96
Categorization
- DEFINE: Core thesis statement defining speculation as ‘endorsing a failed promise’ and ‘collectivizations’ of uncertainty — the chapter’s key conceptual move.
- SEED: Article angle: speculation as a form of collective re-enchantment — how financial uncertainty redistributes political belonging rather than merely economics.
- XREF: connects to: Speculative imagination generates collective futures under incalculable uncertainty; Anderson’s imagined-communities framework applies to speculative finance and collective imaginings. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 55; Speculation now pervades economic, social, and political life as an imagined collective enactment — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 85 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Speculative imagination generates collective futures under incalculable uncertainty
#corroborates(0.85) - Speculation now pervades economic, social, and political life as an imagined collective enactment
#corroborates(0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 85 - Freedom to will requires tolerating uncertainty through shared promises
#corroborates(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1061 - Representation itself is a speculative act shaping shared futures
#expands(0.78) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 179 - Anderson’s imagined-communities framework applies to speculative finance and collective imaginings.
#expands(0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 55