Defining speculative value in the age of financialized capitalism

Abstract

This article engages with Marx’s and Baudrillard’s accounts of value. In so doing it puts forward a new concept of value: speculative value. If labour, use and exchange forms of value were central to Marx’s account of industrial capitalism, and symbolic and sign value were integral to Baudrillard’s observations of consumer-led capitalism, speculative value is an increasingly important component of financialized capitalism. With reference to financialization’s structural and cultural components, the article explains how speculative exchangers, rather than producers or consumers, now propel finance-led economies and, accordingly, generate speculative value to do so. Through such discussions, the article moves towards defining speculative value more broadly, distinguishing it in relation to earlier value forms.

Edgework, Uncertainty, and Social Character

“…It is possible to argue that there have always been opportunity-directed individuals across different cultures. What identifies them as emerging character types, however, is the growing societal demand for this approach within and beyond the financialised economy (Carlson et al, 2017;Davis, 2017;Miyazaki, 2013;Seabrooke, 2014;Tuckett and Nikolic, 2017). Opportunity-directedness also has particular significance for the meanings attached to and importance of edgework, and this can be approached through an appreciation of the costs and opportunities associated with this characterological form.…”

Médias et régimes d’accumulation : pour une critique du lien constitutif des agences de presse avec la financiarisation de l’économie

“…Précisons toutefois que financiarisation n'équivaut pas à immatérialisation. Contrairement aux adeptes des théories du capitalisme informationnel ou immatériel, notre économie dépend encore d'une sphère industrielle extractiviste surtout délocalisée, la sphère financière ne vient que s'ajouter « au-dessus » de la sphère industrielle en imposant un rythme d'accumulation et de concentration du capital plus performant (Davis, 2018).…”

Screen culture, online auctions, and art market spectacle

“…Recent examinations of the impact of digital technologies on cultural landscapes have offered insight into the emergence of new rights that arise or are infringed as artworks circulate through electronic channels (Allen-Robertson 2013;Horowitz 2014). While some of this discussion focuses on the distinctive challenges posed by 'media art' (Baur 2020), authors have also explored how dematerialized art forms challenge traditional conceptions of aesthetic value by threatening the ontological status of the art object (Haiven 2017;Davis 2018;Brown 2020). In related discussions, consideration has been given to the implications of blockchain for art transactions and to ways in which artists have harnessed internet platforms for the purpose of marketing both physical and digital works direct to audiences.…”