Values Beyond Value? Is Anything Safe from being Subsumed by the Logic of Capitalism?

Authors

  • Beverley Skeggs Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.65

Keywords:

capital, logic of capitalism, processes of valuation,

Abstract

There has been a great deal of interest recently in how capital has intervened in almost every area of life, leading some to propose new forms of capital eg ‘emotional capitalism’ (Illouz), and others to suggest that processes of valuation are now the major method for understanding the social world (Arviddson, Adkins and Lury). Whilst, no doubt, capital behaves according to its own logic, finding new lines of flight, converting affects such as sentiment and suffering into value, making multi-culturalism marketable, generating new forms of bio-capital, and making many of our actions subject to the logic of calculation (our writing for instance), I want to explore what is left behind. If we only understand the world from the perspective of the logic of capital does anything remain? I’ve been caught in Bourdieu’s paradox for some time. Is it possible to escape? Are there any values beyond valuation?

Author Biography

Beverley Skeggs, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London

Bev Skeggs is the HoD, Sociology at Goldsmiths, London. She has also worked in the areas of Women’s Studies and Cultural Studies. Her main publications include The Media (1992), Feminist Cultural Theory (1995), Formations of Class and Gender (1997), Transformations: Thinking Through Feminism (2000); Class, Self, Culture (2004), Sexuality and the Politics of Violence and Safety (2004) (with Les Moran, Paul Tyrer and Karen Corteen) and Feminism After Bourdieu (2004 with Lisa Adkins). The Politics of Imagination (Sociological Review special issue 2011, with Joanna Latimer), Reality TV and Class (2011) and Reacting to Reality Television: Audience, Performance, Value (2012) (both with Helen Wood). She is the co-managing editor of The Sociological Review.

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How to Cite

Skeggs, B. (2013). Values Beyond Value? Is Anything Safe from being Subsumed by the Logic of Capitalism?. Feminists@law, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/fal.65

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Multimedia

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