Mythmaking is as central to sustaining our economy as profit-making, particularly as severe environmental degradation, breathtaking inequality, and increasing alienation among youth push capitalism against its own contradictions. Enter the new prophets of capital. In this moment of crisis, a new generation of wealthy mythmakers, masquerading as progressive thinkers, has emerged to reinvent the free market as the solution to society's problems. With Oprah rallying the poor to bootstrap their way into the middle class; Sheryl Sandberg calling on women to lean in to the unequal demands of a sexist world; and Bill and Melinda Gates offering the generosity of the 1 percent as the solution to a persistent, systemic inequality, the new prophets of capital buttress the exploitative system, even as the cracks grow more visible.
NICOLE ASCHOFF is an Editor at Jacobin magazine. She received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2010, and is now a Lecturer in Sociology at Boston University.
Title: The New Prophets of Capital (Jacobin)
Author: Nicole Aschoff
ISBN: 9781781688106
Binding:
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication Date: 2015-04-17
Number of Pages: 164
Weight: 0.2949 kg
A highly original and fascinating exploration of what we might think of as 'changeless change'--the kind of innovation that simultaneously upends current practices and studiously protects existing wealth and power inequities. Through four well-chosen and emblematic case studies, Aschoff tackles this slippery subject with confidence and subtlety, providing readers with key intellectual tools to separate fact from fiction. --Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate Nicole Aschoff expertly dissects the magical thinking behind America's idolatry of the invisible hand. In a series of lively and closely argued case studies, she lets readers see the threadbare state of our rationales for the market's uncontested sovereignty. And just as impressively, she urges us not to be daunted by the challenges ahead. --Chris Lehmann, author of Rich People Things: Real-Life Secrets of the Predator Class Nicole Aschoff has skewered the high priests and priestesses of our most unshakable religion: capitalism. Anyone persuading you to 'lean in, ' engage in 'conscious capitalism' or admire philanthropists will be (rightfully) upset by Aschoff's takedown of some of the big-name 'ethical capitalists' of our era: Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Gates, Whole Foods' John Mackey. Aschoff takes apart the platitudes of liberal capitalism and offers a solid set of alternatives that stress the collective over the individual, people over profit, and real narratives over cover stories. --Nina Power, author of One Dimensional Woman The New Prophets of Capital is intellectually serious without succumbing to critical jargon, and Aschoff makes her points both thoughtfully and rigorously. -- Boston Globe Straightforward, concise and impressive - CounterPunch
