On Wednesday, January 26th, the Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies hosted
Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou for a virtual event on his new book, Speculative
Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialized World.
Speakers included Arjun Appadurai (New York University), Melinda Cooper (Australian
National University), and Jamieson Webster (Psychoanalyst), with moderation by Julia
Ott (The New School).
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 community building have shifted to the speculative realm as social media
platforms enable and amplify our volatile wagers.
Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou is Associate Professor of Sociology at University College London, where he leads the Sociology & Social Theory Research Group. His research explores the multifarious impact of financial markets on social and political life in 20th and 21st century capitalism. His current book project, tentatively titled Real Fake, is an intellectual history of distortion technologies and capitalist myth-making.
The book can be purchased from the the University of Chicago Press using the promotional code SPECOMM30 for a 30% off the paperback, from the Strand Bookstore here, and from all major booksellers.