Academia.eduAcademia.edu

Affective Capitalism

description21 papers
group10 followers
lightbulbAbout this topic
Affective Capitalism refers to the economic system that commodifies emotions and interpersonal relationships, leveraging affective experiences to drive consumer behavior and labor dynamics. It examines how emotional engagement and social connections are integrated into capitalist practices, influencing market strategies and individual identities.
lightbulbAbout this topic
Affective Capitalism refers to the economic system that commodifies emotions and interpersonal relationships, leveraging affective experiences to drive consumer behavior and labor dynamics. It examines how emotional engagement and social connections are integrated into capitalist practices, influencing market strategies and individual identities.

Key research themes

1. How does affect shape and sustain capitalist economic structures and practices?

This research theme investigates the integration of affect and emotion within capitalist systems, emphasizing how capitalism harnesses and capitalizes on affective capacities beyond traditional notions of rational economic behavior. Affect is recognized not merely as individual emotion but as a socio-political-economic force that contributes to legitimizing capitalist institutions, driving consumer behavior, and structuring economic relations through affective infrastructures.

Key finding: Konings (2015) reveals that capitalism is characterized not by disembedding of economy from social and moral life but by their complex imbrication through affective mechanisms. He demonstrates that capitalism produces new... Read more
Key finding: The editorial (2016) conceptualizes affective capitalism as the capture, modulation, and infrastructural organization of affective flows to generate economic effects swiftly and decisively in late capitalism. It emphasizes... Read more
Key finding: This work (no date) critically analyzes digital capitalism’s commodification of affect, where capitalist logics extend into social media and self-presentation, turning individual expressions and social relations into... Read more
Key finding: This 2017 paper situates affect as a critical theoretical lens to understand organizational behavior and capitalist labor dynamics, highlighting affect as a persistent bodily and intersubjective force that shapes motivation... Read more
Key finding: This 2019 article links affect to neoliberal capitalism and right-wing populism, arguing socio-economic inequalities and mediated politics intensify affective responses that sustain capitalist and political elites. The work... Read more

2. How are affective-discursive practices instrumentalized in neoliberal capitalism and digital economies?

Focused on the combined power of affect and discourse, this theme examines how affective expressions, such as emotions, language styles, and communicative practices, are scripted and strategically employed within neoliberal capitalist enterprises and digital platforms to produce authenticity, manage identities, and enhance market distinction. It situates affective-discursive practices as central components of service economies, branding, and digital self-presentation, highlighting the political economy and sociolinguistic processes that underwrite their commodification.

Key finding: Flubacher (2022) shows how scripted smiling combined with dialect use creates affective-discursive practices designed to project authenticity and quality of service. These practices are embedded in political-economic... Read more
Key finding: This study (no date) conceptualizes the Twitter verification checkmark as an affective lure and disciplinary device that shapes styles of self-presentation aligned with capitalist logics. It highlights how digital platforms... Read more
by Ergin Bulut and 
1 more
Key finding: Bulut and Mejia (no date) analyze serious games as affective expressions of communicative capitalism, demonstrating how games like 'Deliver the Nets' transform global crises into enjoyable experiences that obscure political... Read more

3. How do social embeddedness and collective affective phenomena reconfigure individual and collective subjectivities within capitalist contexts?

This theme interrogates the social dimensions of affect by exploring collective emotions, emotional capital, and affective nationalism, all of which reveal affect as constitutive of social bonds, identities, and agency within capitalist and political contexts. The research emphasizes the importance of situating affect within relational, embodied, and power-laden social milieus to understand how emotions are embedded in institutional, national, and organizational processes that both reproduce and challenge capitalist modalities.

Key finding: This 2023 review argues that emotions are socially constructed and authorized, advancing concepts of collective emotions, emotional energy, and emotional capital to understand social embeddedness. It critiques individualistic... Read more
Key finding: Merriman and Jones (2016) extend the concept of affective nationalism beyond banal nationalism, emphasizing the emergent, relational character of national identities mediated through shared affective experiences. They... Read more
Key finding: This study (no date) develops the concept of 'affective milieu' within Foucauldian governmentality, showing how top executives in Finland employed affective management techniques to navigate and prime emotions during market... Read more

All papers in Affective Capitalism

Αν ήθελε κανείς να σκεφτεί πολύ σύντομα την αισθητική του Χέγκελ θα μπορούσε να πει ότι αποτελεί μια αισθητική του περιεχομένου, σε αντίθεση με αυτήν του Αντόρνο που συνιστά σε αδρές γραμμές μια αισθητική της μορφής. Το ζήτημα ωστόσο... more
How and why has the Western culture related nudity with shame and eroticism? Being so, how is it possible that nudist clubs can socialize without displaying sexual arousal expressions nor shame? What is the process to become a nudist? In... more
El proceso de virtualización y digitalización desarrollado durante las últimas décadas ha modificado no solo nuestra percepción del mundo, sino que ha redefinido las dinámicas económicas y políticas en las sociedades contemporáneas. Desde... more
Η ομιλία διερευνά τη σχέση ανάμεσα στη ratio, την αυτοσυντήρηση και την τέχνη, στο πλαίσιο της κριτικής θεωρίας του Αντόρνο. Εξετάζεται η εσωτερική αντίφαση της ορθολογικότητας, η οποία, όταν φετιχοποιείται ως αυτοσκοπός, εκβάλλει σε... more
Παρά τις πολλές παραλλαγές της μαρξιστικής θεωρίας για το κράτος, αυτές περιστρέφονται γύρω από τρεις κυρίως διακριτές και αντιφατικές μεταξύ τους προσεγγίσεις: τον Λενινισμό, τη σοσιαλδημοκρατία και την ανάλυση της πολιτικής μορφής. Ο... more
Greek Περίληψη: Η εν λόγω εργασία παρουσιάζει ορισμένα εισαγωγικά στοιχεία σχετικά με τη φιλοσοφία, σε συνοπτική μορφή.

English Abstract: This work presents synoptically some points from the scientific field of philosophy.
Главный редактор Бибиков М. В. (Москва, Россия) -доктор исторических наук, профессор Редакционная коллегия Онуфриева Е. С. (Москва, Россия) (отв.секретарь) канд. филол. наук Гришин А. Ю. (Москва, Россия) канд. филос. наук Гришин Д.А.... more