(Re)Imagining the good economy: Economic ideals in the age of globalized, financialized, digitalized, and de-carbonized capitalism

You are invited to the next AxPo seminar in collaboration with the CSO on Monday 6 March.

Lisa Suckert , Senior Researcher in Economic Sociology and Political Sociology, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG)

(Re)Imagining the good economy: Economic ideals in the age of globalized, financialized, digitalized, and de-carbonized capitalism.

Discussion by Daniel Benamouzig, CNRS Research Director, Associate Professor, Centre for the Sociology of Organizations (CSO), Sciences Po

When: Monday, 6 March 2023, 15:00-16:30 (Paris time)
Location: Room K.011, 1 Place Saint Thomas d'Aquin 75007 Paris. (There will also be a Zoom option to enable a hybrid seminar.)

Registration required.   

Abstract:

What does a desirable economic future look like? By which economic ideal and traditions should it be governed? Based on Lisa Suckert’s previous work on economic imaginaries of the future, national economic identity and economic critique, she provides first insights into a new project. It explores how four major capitalist developments - globalization, financialization, digitalization and de-carbonization - have been discussed as opportunity or threat in different national European contexts. By capturing and comparing the explanations about why these developments need to be enabled or constraint, the analysis reveals the underlying economic ideals (e.g. growth, equality, employment, innovation, stability, national autonomy) that serve to evaluate, what a good economy is. As it depicts how these economic ideals have changed or remained stable over time and to what extent we can observe national varieties of “the good economy”, the analysis contours the potential and challenges for not only re-imagining but re-making the economy on a European scale. In this vein, the presented research contributes to understanding the ideational infrastructure of capitalism in the 21st century.

Lisa Suckert is a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, working at the intersection between economic sociology and political sociology. Her research explores the political and social constitution of contemporary capitalism. Currently, Suckert's main research focus is on temporal orientations and the dynamics of crises.