Magical capitalism, gambler subjects: South Korea’s bitcoin investment frenzy

The unexpected consequences of a pandemic: Crypto-finance as cultural commons

“…The appeal of crypto might be explained, first, by the heightened sense of financial insecurity that many people face as a result of the current health, economic and climate crises. As exemplified by the case of South Korea (Lee, 2020), investors have looked to lucrative and volatile assets to compensate for a diminution in the power granted by traditional career paths. Getting a postsecondary degree and working hard are no longer enough to secure home ownership or a decent income.…”

“…This reality has led many to examine the attraction of crypto by exploring the cultural underpinnings of crypto-financial behaviour. As it turns out, the current explosion of financial speculation is not unprecedented; Lafargue (in Lee, 2020) once stated that it is modernity itself that has turned ‘capitalist society into a giant international gambling house where the bourgeois wins and loses capital in consequence of events which remain unknown to him’ (p. 1). One line of inquiry follows the anthropological route, understanding this new class of investors as gamblers strangely attracted to the irrational and the magic suggested by the wild fluctuations of cryptocurrency prices.…”

“…Using this approach, researchers may wish to explore the affective side of investing apps, which might prioritise sensation over rational evaluation. However, research already shows how lay investors (Lee, 2020) distrust the traditional techniques of finance – for example, technical and foundational analysis – and how they ultimately embrace the unintelligible financial market on its own terms. One might think that they are gambling because it is the only way to go 5 , but I am also convinced of the validity of another line of interpretation, one that sees retail investors as subjects who are betting on the ‘collapse of the current social order’ (Hayes, 2019: 12).…”

Marcel Mauss and the magical agents of our time

“…With words, images, and numbers, they 'put to work collective forces and ideas' (Mauss, 2001(Mauss, [1950: p. 175)wielding the powers attributed to themas they performatively make things happen, transform things, bring things into the world, and make things 'work' (Mazzarella, 2017: 4). This relates to the broader context of financialised capitalism driven by self-fulfilling magical performativity (Lee, 2022) and the increasing immateriality of not just money, but also labour (Ekman, 2015).…”

Shouldn’t we all be doing cultural economy?

“…As we approach that third decade, is there a task for cultural economy going forward, or are we simply tackling an ever-wider range of empirical problems with an overused hammer? In an age of 'magical capitalism' (Lee 2020) is that hammer even fit for purpose? At the very least, our methods should be constantly on the move if we are to keep pace with the topic of our enquiries.…”