Tagged: financial crisis

Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Value of Art In the Age of Financial Crisis

The economic crisis of 2008 changed the way that many markets operate, their pace, size and reach. However one market that has not slowed is the art market. In November, Sotheby’s enjoyed the most successful night in its storied history, selling almost $375 million worth of Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art.[1] Like many markets, the art market is based in word of mouth and on the knowledge and history of previous sales. There is an aura created around an artist...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Good Politics v. Collective Responsibility in Times of Financial Crisis

Since the collapse of the global financial system in 2008, the most popular course of action- above job searches and credit defaults, I’d venture- has been finger pointing. In his first State of the Union address last week, President Obama continue the trend by hammering against the banking system. In the January 30th edition of the economist, one author points to an entertaining illustration made on the CNBC show, ‘Mad Money,’ which showed a “Lloyd Blankfein pinata” that when split,...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change

Capitalism's Meltdown and the Body (III)

by kiddingthecity The financial system is ‘ill’, capitalism is on the verge of ‘collapsing’, a drastic ‘cure’ has to be found quickly, ‘toxic’ funds need to be ‘eradicated’, and so on. Terms from the vocabulary of medicine and biology have been largely used to describe the systemic crisis of the latest capital, often comparing it to the body in pain. Probably, in an attempt to localize and make more understandable the phantasmagoria of the trillions to Mr. and Mrs. Smiths,...

Social Movements / Social Change

Apocalypse in Central London?

by kiddingthecity Lovely sunny day in London for April 1, Financial Fools Day. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are leading, as I type, carnival parades from four cardinal points to the Bank of England, in the City of London. They are Red (War), Green (Climate Chaos), Silver (Money Crimes), and Black (Land-grabbers). On Facebook it has also appeared an invitation to flash-mobbing the City Exchange with tents and sleeping bags for an Eco-camp, but the “secret” was leaked by this...