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The new spirit of capitalism / Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello ; translated by Gregory Elliott.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Original language: French Publication details: London ; New York : Verso, 2005.Description: xlvii, 601 p. ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9781844671656 (pbk.)
  • 1844671658 (pbk.)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 306.3 BOL
Contents:
The emergence of a new ideological configuration. Management discourse in the 1990s ; The formation of the projective city -- The transformation of capitalism and the neutralization of critique. 1968 : crisis and revival of capitalism ; Dismantling the world of work ; Undermining the defences of the world of work -- The new spirit of capitalism and the new forms of critique. The revival of the social critique ; The test of the artistic critique -- Conclusion : the force of critique -- Postscript : sociology contra fatalism.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Why is the critique of capitalism so ineffective today? In this major work, the sociologists Eve Chiapello and Luc Boltanski suggest that we should be addressing the crisis of anticapitalist critique by exploring its very roots.

Via an unprecedented analysis of management texts which influenced the thinking of employers and contributed to reorganization of companies over the last decades, the authors trace the contours of a new spirit of capitalism. From the middle of the 1970s onwards, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure and developed a new network-based form of organization which was founded on employee initiative and relative work autonomy, but at the cost of material and psychological security.

This new spirit of capitalism triumphed thanks to a remarkable recuperation of the "artistic critique"--that which, after May 1968, attacked the alienation of everyday life by capitalism and bureaucracy. At the same time, the "social critique" was disarmed by the appearance of neocapitalism and remained fixated on the old schemas of hierarchical production.

This book, remarkable for its scope and ambition, seeks to lay the basis for a revival of these two complementary critiques.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The emergence of a new ideological configuration. Management discourse in the 1990s ; The formation of the projective city -- The transformation of capitalism and the neutralization of critique. 1968 : crisis and revival of capitalism ; Dismantling the world of work ; Undermining the defences of the world of work -- The new spirit of capitalism and the new forms of critique. The revival of the social critique ; The test of the artistic critique -- Conclusion : the force of critique -- Postscript : sociology contra fatalism.

Translated from the French.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Preface to the English Edition (p. ix)
  • Acknowledgements (p. xxix)
  • Prologue (p. xxxv)
  • General Introduction: On the Spirit of Capitalism and the Role of Critique (p. 1)
  • Part I The Emergence of a New Ideological Configuration (p. 55)
  • 1 Management Discourse in the 1990s (p. 57)
  • 2 The Formation of the Projective City (p. 103)
  • Part II The Transformation of Capitalism and the Neutralization of Critique (p. 165)
  • 3 1968: Crisis and Revival of Capitalism (p. 167)
  • 4 Dismantling the World of Work (p. 217)
  • 5 Undermining the Defences of the world of Work (p. 273)
  • Part III The New Spirit of Capitalism and the New Forms of Critique (p. 343)
  • 6 The Revival of the Social Critique (p. 345)
  • 7 The Test of the Artistic Critique (p. 419)
  • Conclusion: The Force of Critique (p. 483)
  • Postscript: Sociology Contra Fatalism (p. 529)
  • Appendices (p. 537)
  • Bibliography (p. 559)
  • Name Index (p. 589)
  • Subject Index (p. 597)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Luc Boltanski teaches sociology at the EHESS, Paris
Eve Chiapello is an associate professor at the HEC School of Management, Paris

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