- Table View
- List View
Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance
by Arjun AppaduraiIn this provocative look at one of the most important events of our time, renowned scholar Arjun Appadurai argues that the economic collapse of 2008—while indeed spurred on by greed, ignorance, weak regulation, and irresponsible risk-taking—was, ultimately, a failure of language. To prove this sophisticated point, he takes us into the world of derivative finance, which has become the core of contemporary trading and the primary target of blame for the collapse and all our subsequent woes. With incisive argumentation, he analyzes this challengingly technical world, drawing on thinkers such as J. L. Austin, Marcel Mauss, and Max Weber as theoretical guides to showcase the ways language—and particular failures in it—paved the way for ruin. Appadurai moves in four steps through his analysis. In the first, he highlights the importance of derivatives in contemporary finance, isolating them as the core technical innovation that markets have produced. In the second, he shows that derivatives are essentially written contracts about the future prices of assets—they are, crucially, a promise. Drawing on Mauss’s The Gift and Austin’s theories on linguistic performatives, Appadurai, in his third step, shows how the derivative exploits the linguistic power of the promise through the special form that money takes in finance as the most abstract form of commodity value. Finally, he pinpoints one crucial feature of derivatives (as seen in the housing market especially): that they can make promises that other promises will be broken. He then details how this feature spread contagiously through the market, snowballing into the systemic liquidity crisis that we are all too familiar with now. With his characteristic clarity, Appadurai explains one of the most complicated—and yet absolutely central—aspects of our modern economy. He makes the critical link we have long needed to make: between the numerical force of money and the linguistic force of what we say we will do with it.
Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance
by Arjun AppaduraiIn this provocative look at one of the most important events of our time, renowned scholar Arjun Appadurai argues that the economic collapse of 2008—while indeed spurred on by greed, ignorance, weak regulation, and irresponsible risk-taking—was, ultimately, a failure of language. To prove this sophisticated point, he takes us into the world of derivative finance, which has become the core of contemporary trading and the primary target of blame for the collapse and all our subsequent woes. With incisive argumentation, he analyzes this challengingly technical world, drawing on thinkers such as J. L. Austin, Marcel Mauss, and Max Weber as theoretical guides to showcase the ways language—and particular failures in it—paved the way for ruin. Appadurai moves in four steps through his analysis. In the first, he highlights the importance of derivatives in contemporary finance, isolating them as the core technical innovation that markets have produced. In the second, he shows that derivatives are essentially written contracts about the future prices of assets—they are, crucially, a promise. Drawing on Mauss’s The Gift and Austin’s theories on linguistic performatives, Appadurai, in his third step, shows how the derivative exploits the linguistic power of the promise through the special form that money takes in finance as the most abstract form of commodity value. Finally, he pinpoints one crucial feature of derivatives (as seen in the housing market especially): that they can make promises that other promises will be broken. He then details how this feature spread contagiously through the market, snowballing into the systemic liquidity crisis that we are all too familiar with now. With his characteristic clarity, Appadurai explains one of the most complicated—and yet absolutely central—aspects of our modern economy. He makes the critical link we have long needed to make: between the numerical force of money and the linguistic force of what we say we will do with it.
Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance
by Arjun AppaduraiIn this provocative look at one of the most important events of our time, renowned scholar Arjun Appadurai argues that the economic collapse of 2008—while indeed spurred on by greed, ignorance, weak regulation, and irresponsible risk-taking—was, ultimately, a failure of language. To prove this sophisticated point, he takes us into the world of derivative finance, which has become the core of contemporary trading and the primary target of blame for the collapse and all our subsequent woes. With incisive argumentation, he analyzes this challengingly technical world, drawing on thinkers such as J. L. Austin, Marcel Mauss, and Max Weber as theoretical guides to showcase the ways language—and particular failures in it—paved the way for ruin. Appadurai moves in four steps through his analysis. In the first, he highlights the importance of derivatives in contemporary finance, isolating them as the core technical innovation that markets have produced. In the second, he shows that derivatives are essentially written contracts about the future prices of assets—they are, crucially, a promise. Drawing on Mauss’s The Gift and Austin’s theories on linguistic performatives, Appadurai, in his third step, shows how the derivative exploits the linguistic power of the promise through the special form that money takes in finance as the most abstract form of commodity value. Finally, he pinpoints one crucial feature of derivatives (as seen in the housing market especially): that they can make promises that other promises will be broken. He then details how this feature spread contagiously through the market, snowballing into the systemic liquidity crisis that we are all too familiar with now. With his characteristic clarity, Appadurai explains one of the most complicated—and yet absolutely central—aspects of our modern economy. He makes the critical link we have long needed to make: between the numerical force of money and the linguistic force of what we say we will do with it.
Banking with Integrity: The Winners of the Financial Crisis? (Humanism in Business Series)
by Heiko Spitzeck, Michael Pirson 0026; Claus DierksmeierBanking with Integrity provides rich and in-depth case studies of banks which were doing well during the financial crisis of 2007-2010. While other banks went bankrupt, were nationalized, or struggled for survival some of the featured cases increased market share, attracted more customers and avoided home evictions of their clients.
Bankrupt: Global Lawmaking and Systemic Financial Crisis
by Terence C. Halliday Bruce G. CarruthersThe Asian Financial Crisis dramatically illustrated the vulnerability of financial markets in emerging, transitional, and advanced economies. In response, international organizations insisted that legal reforms could help protect markets from financial breakdowns. Sitting at the nexus between the legal system and the market, corporate bankruptcy law ensures that the casualties of capitalism are treated in an orderly way. Halliday and Carruthers show how global actors—including the IMF, World Bank, UN, and international professional associations—developed comprehensive norms for corporate bankruptcy laws and how national policymakers responded in turn. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in China, Indonesia and Korea, the authors reveal how national policymakers contested and negotiated domestic laws in the context of global pressures. The first study of its kind, this book offers a theory of legal change to explain why global/local tensions produce implementation gaps. Through its analysis of globalization, this book has lessons for international organizations and developing and transition economies the world over.
The Banks Did It: An Anatomy of the Financial Crisis
by Neil FligsteinA comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the mortgage-securitization industry, which explains the complex roots of the 2008 financial crisis. More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis plunged the world economy into recession, we still lack an adequate explanation for why it happened. Existing accounts identify a number of culprits—financial instruments, traders, regulators, capital flows—yet fail to grasp how the various puzzle pieces came together. The key, Neil Fligstein argues, is the convergence of major US banks on an identical business model: extracting money from the securitization of mortgages. But how, and why, did this convergence come about? The Banks Did It carefully takes the reader through the development of a banking industry dependent on mortgage securitization. Fligstein documents how banks, with help from the government, created the market for mortgage securities. The largest banks—Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and Washington Mutual—soon came to participate in every aspect of this market. Each firm originated mortgages, issued mortgage-backed securities, sold those securities, and, in many cases, acted as their own best customers by purchasing the same securities. Entirely reliant on the throughput of mortgages, these firms were unable to alter course even when it became clear that the market had turned on them in the mid-2000s. With the structural features of the banking industry in view, the rest of the story falls into place. Fligstein explains how the crisis was produced, where it spread, why regulators missed the warning signs, and how banks’ dependence on mortgage securitization resulted in predatory lending and securities fraud. An illuminating account of the transformation of the American financial system, The Banks Did It offers important lessons for anyone with a stake in avoiding the next crisis.
Banquet At Delmonico's (PDF): The Gilded Age And The Triumph Of Evolution In America
by Barry WerthIn Banquet at Delmonico’s, Barry Werth draws readers inside the circle of intellectuals, scientists, politicians, businessmen, and clergymen who brought Charles Darwin’s controversial ideas to post-Civil-War America. Each chapter is dedicated to a crucial intellectual encounter, culminating with an exclusive farewell dinner held in English philosopher Herbert Spencer’s honor at the venerable New York restaurant Delmonico’s in 1882. In this thought-provoking and nuanced account, Werth firmly situates social Darwinism in the context of the Gilded Age. Banquet at Delmonico’s is social history at its finest.
Baptizing Business: Evangelical Executives and the Sacred Pursuit of Profit
by Bradley C. SmithBaptizing Business sifts through popular perceptions regarding the relationship between business and religion and the agenda of conservative Christian business leaders, drawing on personal interviews with the most diverse group of evangelical executives yet studied. While stereotypes and previous research both emphasize the perceived incompatibility of religious mandates and business objectives, Bradley C. Smith argues that evangelical executives experience tension not because business and religion are inherently opposed, but because they are made to feel like second-class citizens by members of their own faith communities. Indeed, in cases of apparent conflict between faith and business, evangelical executives insist that it is faith, not business, that must be reconceived. Smith reveals that evangelical business leaders are as inclined to export business concepts into other domains as to import religious objectives into business contexts, prompting us to reconsider the direction of influence between religious and economic life. Baptizing Business is filled with compelling stories that paint a nuanced, unbiased picture of the increasing influence of intensely religious business leaders. The "spirit of capitalism," defined by Max Weber as a positive attitude toward work and wealth, finds ongoing embrace and new expression in evangelical executives and their accounts, with implications for our understanding of the faith at work movement, evangelicalism, and the role of religion among elites.
Baptizing Business: Evangelical Executives and the Sacred Pursuit of Profit
by Bradley C. SmithBaptizing Business sifts through popular perceptions regarding the relationship between business and religion and the agenda of conservative Christian business leaders, drawing on personal interviews with the most diverse group of evangelical executives yet studied. While stereotypes and previous research both emphasize the perceived incompatibility of religious mandates and business objectives, Bradley C. Smith argues that evangelical executives experience tension not because business and religion are inherently opposed, but because they are made to feel like second-class citizens by members of their own faith communities. Indeed, in cases of apparent conflict between faith and business, evangelical executives insist that it is faith, not business, that must be reconceived. Smith reveals that evangelical business leaders are as inclined to export business concepts into other domains as to import religious objectives into business contexts, prompting us to reconsider the direction of influence between religious and economic life. Baptizing Business is filled with compelling stories that paint a nuanced, unbiased picture of the increasing influence of intensely religious business leaders. The "spirit of capitalism," defined by Max Weber as a positive attitude toward work and wealth, finds ongoing embrace and new expression in evangelical executives and their accounts, with implications for our understanding of the faith at work movement, evangelicalism, and the role of religion among elites.
Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America's New Leadership (Critical Black Studies)
by Kristen Clarke M. MarableThis book examines the evolution of black leadership and politics since the Civil Rights Movement. It looks at the phenomenon of Barack Obama, from his striking emergence as a successful candidate for the Illinois State Senate to President of the United States, as part of the continuum of African American political leaders.
Barack Obama und die Macht der Worte
by Jürgen WeiblerBarack Obama hat eine Welle der Faszination ausgelöst. Wie wenige vor ihm hat er durch die Kraft seiner Reden und seine körperliche Präsenz die Weltöffentlichkeit in seinen Bann gezogen. Dieser Band geht dem Phänomen auf den Grund. Fachleute aus verschiedenen Disziplinen versuchen, das "Erfolgsgeheimnis" der Weltperson Obama und seiner beispiellosen Kampagne zu deuten und zu entschlüsseln. Dabei liefert der Band auch grundlegende Einsichten für eine professionelle Kommunikation und eine erfolgreiche Führung.
Barack Obama's America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended the Reagan Era (Contemporary Political And Social Issues)
by John Kenneth White"White's Barack Obama's America eloquently captures both the important nuances of the current political scene and its long-term consequences." ---Richard Wirthlin, former pollster for Ronald Reagan "This delightfully written and accessible book is the best available account of the changes in culture, society, and politics that have given us Barack Obama's America." ---Stan Greenberg, pollster for Bill Clinton and Chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research "From one of the nation's foremost experts on how values shape our politics, a clear and compelling account of the dramatic shifts in social attitudes that are transforming American political culture. White's masterful blend of narrative and data illuminates the arc of electoral history from Reagan to Obama, making a powerful case for why we are entering a new progressive political era." ---Matthew R. Kerbel, Professor of Political Science, Villanova University, and author of Netroots "John Kenneth White is bold. He asks the big questions . . . Who are we? What do we claim to believe? How do we actually live? What are our politics? John Kenneth White writes compellingly about religion and the role it played in making Barack Obama president. White's keen insight into America's many faiths clarifies why Barack Obama succeeded against all odds. It is a fascinating description of religion and politics in twenty-first-century America---a must-read." ---Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and author of Failing America's Faithful "In Barack Obama's America, John Kenneth White has written the political equivalent of Baedeker or Michelin, the definitive guide to and through the new, uncharted political landscape of our world. White captures and explains what America means---and what it means to be an American---in the twenty-first century." ---Mark Shields, nationally syndicated columnist and political commentator for PBS NewsHour "John White has always caught important trends in American politics that others missed. With his shrewd analysis of why Barack Obama won, he's done it again." ---E. J. Dionne, Jr., Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown University The election of Barack Obama to the presidency marks a conclusive end to the Reagan era, writes John Kenneth White in Barack Obama's America. Reagan symbolized a 1950s and 1960s America, largely white and suburban, with married couples and kids at home, who attended church more often than not. Obama's election marks a new era, the author writes. Whites will be a minority by 2042. Marriage is at an all-time low. Cohabitation has increased from a half-million couples in 1960 to more than 5 million in 2000 to even more this year. Gay marriages and civil unions are redefining what it means to be a family. And organized religions are suffering, even as Americans continue to think of themselves as a religious people. Obama's inauguration was a defining moment in the political destiny of this country, based largely on demographic shifts, as described in Barack Obama's America. John Kenneth White is Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Cover image: "Out of many, we are one: Dare to Hope: Faces from 2008 Obama Rallies" by Anne C. Savage, view and buy full image at http://revolutionaryviews.com/obama_poster.html.
The Barbarian Temperament: Towards a Postmodern Critical Theory
by Stejpan MestrovicThis scintillating book by one of the most interesting young sociologists currently working in the USA is a provocative and timely contribution to the debate on civilization, modernity and postmodernity. The author argues that modernity never jettisoned barbarism. Instead barbarism was repackaged in modern and postmodern traditions and cultures.
The Barbarian Temperament: Towards a Postmodern Critical Theory
by Stejpan MestrovicThis scintillating book by one of the most interesting young sociologists currently working in the USA is a provocative and timely contribution to the debate on civilization, modernity and postmodernity. The author argues that modernity never jettisoned barbarism. Instead barbarism was repackaged in modern and postmodern traditions and cultures.
Barbaric Heart: Faith, Money, and the Crisis of Nature
by Curtis WhiteSmart, funny, and fresh, The Barbaric Heart argues that the present environmental crisis will not be resolved by the same forms of crony capitalism and managerial technocracy that created the crisis in the first place. With his trademark wit, White argues that the solution might very well come from an unexpected quarter: the arts, religion, and the realm of the moral imagination.
Barbaric Heart: Faith, Money, and the Crisis of Nature
by Curtis WhiteSmart, funny, and fresh, The Barbaric Heart argues that the present environmental crisis will not be resolved by the same forms of crony capitalism and managerial technocracy that created the crisis in the first place. With his trademark wit, White argues that the solution might very well come from an unexpected quarter: the arts, religion, and the realm of the moral imagination.
The Barbary Macaque: A Case Study in Conservation (Contributions To Primatology Ser. #Vol. 23)
by John E. FaThe Barbary macaque (all too often mistakenly called an ape) was first brought to the attention of the Conservation Working Party of the Primate Society of Great Britain late 1979 when John Fa reported that 'surplus' animals were being sent from Gibraltar to dubious locations, such as an Italian safari park. Since there had been no scientific input into the Army's management of the monkey colony on Gibraltar, and there was concern about inbreeding, nutrition and health - about the long-term viability of the colony, it was felt that the Society could help. The Gibraltar Scientific Authority and the Army were very receptive to our offer and ideas, and this topic occupied successive chairmen over the last few years - Robin Dunbar and Richard Wrangham, myself and now Miranda Stevenson - with constant prompting and help from John Fa. Considerations soon extended to the status of the species as a whole, so that there have been three main aspects:- (1) the improved health of a larger self-sustaining population on Gibraltar, (2) the status and behavioural biology of natural populations in North Africa (Morocco and Algeria), and (3) the breeding achievements in European parks and zoos, and their potential for reintroduction to suitable areas in North Africa, along with other possibilities. Robin Dunbar organized the compilation of recommendations for managing the Gibraltar colony with regard to numbers, age-sex struc ture and behavioural relationships, with some observations on diet to avoid obesity and infertility.
Barbed Wire: Capitalism and the Enclosure of the Commons
by Patrick BrantlingerA call to transform the way we think about property, this book examines how capitalism has from its origins sought to enclose or privatize the commons, or land and other forms of property that had been viewed as communally owned, and argues that neoliberal economic policies and the corporate takeovers of urban spaces, prisons, schools, the mass media, farms, and natural resources have failed to serve the public interest. A study of corporate globalization and the continuation of empire after the era of political decolonization, it begins with the fencing of the West starting in the 1870s, and moves to examine recent phenomena such as urbanization, mass incarceration, financialization, and the treatment of people as commodities in the context of the longue durée of land enclosures, empire, and capitalism. Highlighting the threatened elimination of the public domain as a result of corporate efforts to privatize public utilities, prisons, schools, forests, seeds, and just about everything else that can yield a profit, Barbed Wire: Capitalism and the Enclosure of the Commons asks what it would mean if, instead of either private or public property, our most fundamental conception of property were communal. Would a redefinition of property from a community perspective lead us beyond the military-industrial complex?
Barbed Wire: Capitalism and the Enclosure of the Commons
by Patrick BrantlingerA call to transform the way we think about property, this book examines how capitalism has from its origins sought to enclose or privatize the commons, or land and other forms of property that had been viewed as communally owned, and argues that neoliberal economic policies and the corporate takeovers of urban spaces, prisons, schools, the mass media, farms, and natural resources have failed to serve the public interest. A study of corporate globalization and the continuation of empire after the era of political decolonization, it begins with the fencing of the West starting in the 1870s, and moves to examine recent phenomena such as urbanization, mass incarceration, financialization, and the treatment of people as commodities in the context of the longue durée of land enclosures, empire, and capitalism. Highlighting the threatened elimination of the public domain as a result of corporate efforts to privatize public utilities, prisons, schools, forests, seeds, and just about everything else that can yield a profit, Barbed Wire: Capitalism and the Enclosure of the Commons asks what it would mean if, instead of either private or public property, our most fundamental conception of property were communal. Would a redefinition of property from a community perspective lead us beyond the military-industrial complex?
Barbed Wire: Borders and Partitions in South Asia
by Jayita SenguptaThe book is an anthology of creative and critical responses to the many partitions of India within and across borders. By widening and reframing the question of partition in the subcontinent from one event in 1947 to a larger series of partitions, the book presents a deeper perspective both on the concept of partition in understanding South Asia, and understanding the implications from survivors, victims and others. The imagery of the barbed wire in the title is used precisely to confront the jaggedness of experiencing and surviving partition that still haunts the national, literary, religious and political matrices of India. The volume is a compilation of short stories, poems, articles, news reports and memoirs, with each contributor bringing forth their perception of partition and its effects on their life and identity. The many narratives amplify the human cost of partitions, examining the complexities of a bruised nation at the social, psychological and religious levels of consciousness. The book will appeal to anyone interested in literary studies, history, politics, sociology, cultural studies, and comparative literature.
Barbed Wire: Borders and Partitions in South Asia
by Jayita SenguptaThe book is an anthology of creative and critical responses to the many partitions of India within and across borders. By widening and reframing the question of partition in the subcontinent from one event in 1947 to a larger series of partitions, the book presents a deeper perspective both on the concept of partition in understanding South Asia, and understanding the implications from survivors, victims and others. The imagery of the barbed wire in the title is used precisely to confront the jaggedness of experiencing and surviving partition that still haunts the national, literary, religious and political matrices of India. The volume is a compilation of short stories, poems, articles, news reports and memoirs, with each contributor bringing forth their perception of partition and its effects on their life and identity. The many narratives amplify the human cost of partitions, examining the complexities of a bruised nation at the social, psychological and religious levels of consciousness. The book will appeal to anyone interested in literary studies, history, politics, sociology, cultural studies, and comparative literature.
Barcelona 92: A Legacy Case Study (Mega Event Planning)
by Francesc Solanellas Alain Ferrand Andreu CampsBarcelona 92: A Legacy Case Study examines the effects of the organisation of Barcelona’s Olympic Games in 1992. Divided into five compelling chapters, the authors discuss issues concerning the definition of legacy, whilst also presenting new models of legacy management and measurement methods, and providing an in-depth examination of sporting, economic and social dimensions. This book offers the most significant studies and research on the 92 Olympics to date, presenting cutting-edge proposals for comparing different Olympic hosting cities into the future.
Barcoding Nature: Shifting Cultures of Taxonomy in an Age of Biodiversity Loss
by Claire WatertonDNA Barcoding has been promoted since 2003 as a new, fast, digital genomics-based means of identifying natural species based on the idea that a small standard fragment of any organism�s genome (a so-called �micro-genome�) can faithfully identify and help to classify every species on the planet. The fear that species are becoming extinct before they have ever been known fuels barcoders, and the speed, scope, economy and �user-friendliness� claimed for DNA barcoding, as part of the larger ferment around the �genomics revolution�, has also encouraged promises that it could inspire humanity to reverse its biodiversity-destructive habits.This book is based on six years of ethnographic research on changing practices in the identification and classification of natural species. Informed both by Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the anthropology of science, the authors analyse DNA barcoding in the context of a sense of crisis � concerning global biodiversity loss, but also the felt inadequacy of taxonomic science to address such loss. The authors chart the specific changes that this innovation is propelling in the collecting, organizing, analyzing, and archiving of biological specimens and biodiversity data. As they do so they highlight the many questions, ambiguities and contradictions that accompany the quest to create a genomics-based environmental technoscience dedicated to biodiversity protection. They ask what it might mean to recognise ambiguity, contradiction, and excess more publicly as a constitutive part of this and other genomic technosciences.Barcoding Nature will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology of science, science and technology studies, politics of the environment, genomics and post-genomics, philosophy and history of biology, and the anthropology of science.
Barcoding Nature: Shifting Cultures of Taxonomy in an Age of Biodiversity Loss (Genetics And Society Ser.)
by Claire WatertonDNA Barcoding has been promoted since 2003 as a new, fast, digital genomics-based means of identifying natural species based on the idea that a small standard fragment of any organism�s genome (a so-called �micro-genome�) can faithfully identify and help to classify every species on the planet. The fear that species are becoming extinct before they have ever been known fuels barcoders, and the speed, scope, economy and �user-friendliness� claimed for DNA barcoding, as part of the larger ferment around the �genomics revolution�, has also encouraged promises that it could inspire humanity to reverse its biodiversity-destructive habits.This book is based on six years of ethnographic research on changing practices in the identification and classification of natural species. Informed both by Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the anthropology of science, the authors analyse DNA barcoding in the context of a sense of crisis � concerning global biodiversity loss, but also the felt inadequacy of taxonomic science to address such loss. The authors chart the specific changes that this innovation is propelling in the collecting, organizing, analyzing, and archiving of biological specimens and biodiversity data. As they do so they highlight the many questions, ambiguities and contradictions that accompany the quest to create a genomics-based environmental technoscience dedicated to biodiversity protection. They ask what it might mean to recognise ambiguity, contradiction, and excess more publicly as a constitutive part of this and other genomic technosciences.Barcoding Nature will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology of science, science and technology studies, politics of the environment, genomics and post-genomics, philosophy and history of biology, and the anthropology of science.
The Barefoot Guide To Learning Practices In Organisations And Social Change (Barefoot Guides #2)
by The 2nd The 2nd Barefoot Guide Writers' CollectiveOrganisations that are strong and wish to contribute to positive and sustainable social change have to be able to learn. The same is true of individuals who want to have a positive impact on their surroundings. They need to learn – from their communities, from their colleagues, from their mentors.