Aktuelles – 2024
Gastvortrag von Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou: Speculative politics in the age of finance
This talk examines the ways that speculation has moved beyond financial markets to shape fundamental aspects of our social and political lives. It argues that even our methods of building community and pursuing intimacy have shifted to the speculative realm as social media platforms enable and amplify our volatile wagers on uncertainty. The talk draws on a range of contemporary examples, from the global rise of nationalist-populist movements, to the risk-prone practices of cryptocurrency traders and the growth of dating and astrology apps, to demonstrate that "to speculate" means increasingly "to connect," to endorse the unknown pre-emptively, and often daringly, as a means of social survival. Grappling with the question of how more uncertainty can lead to its full-throated embrace rather than dissent, the talk proposes a new conceptual framing of financialization and considers possibilities for counter-speculative movements that fight finance on its own turf.
Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University College London and Director of the UCL Centre for Capitalism Studies. He is currently Chair of the "Futures of Capitalism" programme at The New Institute in Hamburg. He is the author of "Speculative Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialized World" (University of Chicago Press, 2022) and "Real Fake", which will be published by MIT Press in 2026.
Neuerscheinung: The politics of suspension
