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Titel:
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The Limits of Ignorance
|
|
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Financial Literacy and the Corporate Governmentalization of the ‘Business of Life’ |
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Forfatter:
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Højbjerg, Erik |
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Resume:
|
This
paper
is
a
work-‐in-‐progress.
The
purpose
of
the
paper
is
programmatic
in
the
sense
that
it
tries
to
formulate
elements
of
a
research
agenda
revolving
around
the
issue
of
corporate
governmentalization.
By
this
term
I
intend
to
indicate
ways
in
which
companies
seek
to
construe
and
mobilize
consumer
subjectivities
whose
consuming
practices
involve
the
self-‐
management
of
the
individual
along
etho-‐political
goals
of
good
governance.
The
back-‐drop
of
this
topic
is
the
investigation
of
the
forms
of
contemporary
social
and
political
transformation,
with
a
focus
on
the
transformative
powers
of
‘politicized
private
enterprises’
or
the
‘political
corporation’.
The
research
question
is:
How
do
corporations
seek
to
construe
and
mobilize
responsible
citizens
by
offering
products
and
services,
the
consumption
of
which
are
assumed
to
transform
the
individual¹s
self-‐relationship
along
proclaimed
ethical
and
political
goals?
The
research
question
will
be
discussed
in
the
context
of
financial
literacy
educational
initiatives.
In
the
aftermath
of
the
2008
global
financial
crisis,
increasing
the
financial
literacy
of
ordinary
citizen-‐consumers
has
taken
a
prominent
position
among
regulators
and
financial
institutions
alike.
The
logic
seems
to
be
that
financially
capable
individuals
will
enjoy
social
and
political
inclusion
as
well
as
an
ability
to
exercise
a
stronger
influence
in
markets.
The
paper
specifically
contributes
to
our
understanding
of
the
governmentalization
of
the
present
by
addressing
how
-‐
at
least
in
part
-‐
the
corporate
spread
of
financial
literacy
educational
initiatives
can
be
observed
as
a
particular
form
of
power
at-‐a-‐distance.
The
focus
is
on
the
role
of
private
enterprise
in
governmentalizing
the
‘business
of
life’
by
establishing
and
mobilizing
specific
conceptual
forms
around
which
the
life
skills
of
the
entrepreneurial
self
involves
a
responsibilization
of
the
individual
citizen-‐consumer. |
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URI:
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http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9006
|
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Dato:
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2014-11-12 |
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Note:
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Paper presented at 5th LAEMOS Colloquium “Constructing Alternatives: How can we organize for alternative social, economic, and ecological balance?”, La Havana Cuba, 2-5 April 2014 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
