Speculative Communities - by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou

About the Book

"In Speculative Communities, Komporozos-Athanasiou examines the ways that financial speculation has moved beyond markets to shape fundamental aspects of our social and political lives. As ordinary people make exceptional decisions--such as the American election of a populist demagogue or the British vote to leave the European Union--they are moving from time-honored and -tested practices of governance, toward the speculative promise of a different kind of future. Even our methods of building community have shifted to the speculative realm as social media platforms enable and amplify alternative visions of the present and future-these are the "speculative communities" that now shape our personal and political realities. For Komporozos-Athanasiou, "to speculate" means increasingly "to connect," to endorse uncertainty preemptively, and often daringly, as a means of social survival. Finance has thus become the model for society writ large. These financial systems have taken a notable turn in our current era, however. Contemporary capitalism sees the risk-taking, entrepreneurial person being refashioned as a politically disoriented, speculative subject, who embraces the future's radical uncertainty rather than averting it. As Komporozos-Athanasiou shows, virtual marketplaces, new social media, and dating apps function as finance's speculative infrastructures, leading to a new type of imagination across economy and society"--

Book Synopsis

Speculative Communities investigates the financial world's influence on the social imagination, unraveling its radical effects on our personal and political lives.

In Speculative Communities, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou examines the ways that speculation has moved beyond financial markets to shape fundamental aspects of our social and political lives. As ordinary people make exceptional decisions, such as the American election of a populist demagogue or the British vote to leave the European Union, they are moving from time-honored and -tested practices of governance, toward the speculative promise of a new, more uncertain future. This book shows how even our methods of building community have shifted to the speculative realm as social media platforms enable and amplify our volatile wagers.

For Komporozos-Athanasiou, "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, Speculative Communities shows how finance has become the model for society writ large. As Komporozos-Athanasiou argues, virtual marketplaces, new social media, and dating apps bring finance's opaque infrastructures into the most intimate realms of our lives, leading to a new type of speculative imagination across economy, culture, and society.

Review Quotes

"Komporozos-Athanasiou offers a concise diagnostic and an ambitious theorization of speculation. The book makes important contributions for a wide variety of scholars who may be interested in politics, sociology, and political economy. It helpfully reframes the ascendance of ethnonationalist neopopulist projects in the context of radical uncertainty, digital technologies, and financialization."-- "New Political Science"

"Fans of modern social theory will enjoy the kind of playful intellectual bricolage Komporozos-Athanasiou performs."-- "Social Forces"

"It is clear that there are powerful political forces afoot that are not well understood, and Speculative Communities provides a novel framework for trying to understand them."-- "Choice"

"The density of resources and ideas is . . . energizing, and the frameworks it provides . . . are extremely useful for anyone interested in the overlapping worlds of technology, finance, and politics. . . . Komporozos-Athanasiou's point is not so much that every sphere of life is programmatically ordered as a speculative market, but that we find ourselves assuming--sometimes by choice, sometimes by default--the attitude of speculators in everyday life."-- "Bookforum"

"Speculative Communities is not just another critique of neoliberalism-inflected financial capitalism. It is a novel and audacious attempt to construct a conceptual framework with which it becomes possible to articulate and address major questions concerning our economies, our financial system, our democratic institutions, and our increasingly digital technology-mediated lives. Moreover, it is a truly original book and a great political sociology contribution to the already rich literatures on financialization in economic sociology (e.g., social studies of finance) and political economy (e.g., critical macro finance)."-- "Finance and Society"

"A brilliant book, engaging with some of the most important current questions of social and political development, coherently argued, and beautifully written."--Jens Beckert, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

"This is an exciting, intelligent, inviting book. The argument offers a new way of understanding the scope, infiltration, and diffuse power of financialization and its promised, speculative futures."--Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, University of California, San Diego

"Speculative Communities is a masterful critique of the financialisation of everyday life, which provides an innovative account of the role of speculation and uncertainty in shaping the way we understand, and act within, the world. Komporozos-Athanasiou masterfully blends economic theory with political and sociological analysis to deliver a fascinating reading of how finance has colonised our imaginations, and the challenges this process poses to movements seeking to construct a collective sense of what life beyond capitalism might look like. Speculative Communities is both a novel and exciting academic contribution, and a critical reference point for those seeking to organise in a world defined by the logic of speculation."--Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to Save the World From Financialisation

"This highly original study shifts the idea of speculation away from seeing the flaws of capitalism to providing the basis of a critique of it. It also lays the foundations of a subversive vision which connects speculation, politics and progressive futurity in the struggle for financial justice and social solidarity."--Arjun Appadurai, author of Banking on Words

"In this bold intervention, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou shows us how financialized capitalism disseminates uncertainty while at the same time creating new possibilities of connection. The result is a compelling theory of the alliance between existential insecurity and paranoid certitude in contemporary nationalist populism. An important and timely book."--Melinda Cooper, author of Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism

About the Author

Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou is associate professor of sociology at University College London.