Den store Ånd eller de små spøgelser – om kapitalismens legitimerende narrativer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/slagmark.v0i76.124163Nøgleord:
New Spirit of Capitalism, Ideology, Business Ethics, Freedom, CapitalismResumé
THE GREAT SPIRIT OR THE LITTLE GHOSTS? ON THE LEGITIMIZING NARRATIVES OF CAPITALISM
Boltanski and Chiapello’s The New Spirit of Capitalism is a monumental work that diagnoses the nature of contemporary network capitalism and gives a compelling statement of a new ideology that sustains and legitimizes capitalism as an economic system. This paper, however, aims to raise a number of objections to Boltanski and Chiapello’s approach. It questions partly whether the ideology they identify is actually capable of legitimizing contemporary capitalism, partly whether it may not be more constructive to abandon the search for one ‘spirit of capitalism’ in favor of identifying a system of different ideologies that all serve as legitimizing narratives. The paper identifies business ethics as one such ideology and argues that it actually outperforms the one identified by Boltanski and Chiapello according to the criteria defined by the authors themselves. Finally, it is argued that the different ideologies, despite their discrepancies, share one defining characteristic: They are all incapable of making a case for capitalism as an economic system that guarantees the contemporary workforce social security, and that reflects the reality of capitalist society today.
Downloads
Publiceret
Citation/Eksport
Nummer
Sektion
Licens
Ophavsretten til artiklerne i Slagmark deles mellem forfatter og Forlaget Slagmark.
Artikler og tekstmateriale publiceret i Slagmark må citeres, downloades og videresendes for ikke-kommerciel brug, under forudsætning af normal akademisk reference til forfatter(e) samt tidsskrift, årgang, nummer og sider.
Brug og distribution af tekstmateriale både i form af papirkopier og elektroniske kopier, til undervisningsbrug på uddannelsesinstitutioner og intern brug er tilladt efter aftale med Copydan Tekst & Node. Brugen skal ske inden for aftalens rammer.
Artikler og tekster må kun genudgives med eksplicit tilladelse fra forfatter(e) og tidsskriftet med en anerkendelse af værkets første publicering i nærværende tidsskrift.