Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T18:10:05.131Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Introduction: Volatility in finance, art, and culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

Benjamin Lee  and
Emily Rosamond
Benjamin Lee*
Affiliation:
The New School, USA
Emily Rosamond
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
*
Corresponding author: Benjamin Lee, The New School, N-66 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011, USA. Email: leeb@newschool.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The term ‘volatility’ applies to changeability: both that which can be measured, such as temperatures and stock prices, and that which cannot be easily measured, such as affects and emotions. Quantitative financial volatility has typically been studied quite separately from art, culture, and everyday life. Randy Martin's work, which addressed the resonances between volatility in dance and finance, was a notable exception. Martin focused on derivatives, which played a critical role in the development of financialized capitalism, especially between 1973-2008. Arguably, however, derivatives are no longer the key drivers of volatility as a social and cultural logic. New assemblages of asset managers, rentiers, and online platforms - along with a pandemic, new banking crises, and ongoing climate emergency - are reshaping how volatility is produced and navigated. How might we rethink volatility in order to better grasp its changing logics? This introduction unpacks existing debates on volatility in finance, art, and culture, suggesting several directions in which new work in this area might depart from existing frameworks - some of which are pursued in this special issue. We focus on three broad lines of exploration: rethinking the intellectual histories of volatility; rethinking volatility across disparate post-2008 contexts; and imagining volatile futures through art practice.

Keywords

Volatilityfinanceartculturederivativescrisisoptionsfutures
Type
Editorial
Information
Finance and Society , Volume 9 , Issue 3: Volatility in finance, art, and culture , 2023 , pp. 1 - 17
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)

References

Abbas, A. (2023) Figuring volatility. Finance and Society, 9(3): 18–36.Google Scholar
Amoore, L. (2022) Machine learning political orders. Review of International Studies, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210522000031.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, B. (2006) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Becker, G.S. (1993) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Third edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benquet, M. and Bourgeron, T. (2022) Alt-Finance: How the City of London Bought Democracy. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (2002) 2002 Chairman's Letter, Berkshire Hathaway. Available at: <https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2002pdf.pdf/>. Accessed 13 July 2021.. Accessed 13 July 2021.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Berkshire+Hathaway,+Inc.+(2002)+2002+Chairman's+Letter,+Berkshire+Hathaway.+Available+at:+.+Accessed+13+July+2021.>Google Scholar
Braun, B. and Buller, A. (2021) Titans. Phenomenal World, 6 November. Available at: <https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/blackrock-asset-manager-capitalism/>. Accessed 8 March 2022..+Accessed+8+March+2022.>Google Scholar
Brown, W. (2017) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books.Google Scholar
Bryan, D. (2023) Who can exercise the option of justice? Finance and Society, 9(3): 91–94.Google Scholar
Buller, A. (2022) The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cboe (n.d.) VIX Index. <https://www.cboe.com/tradable_products/vix/>. Accessed 24 July 2023..+Accessed+24+July+2023.>Google Scholar
Chakravartty, P. and Ferreira da Silva, D. (2012) Accumulation, dispossession, and debt: The racial logic of global capitalism - An introduction. American Quarterly, 64(3): 361–85.10.1353/aq.2012.0033CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christophers, B. (2023) Our Lives In Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own The World. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Clarke, A. (2021) On pandemonium. RADAR. Available at: <https://radar.lboro.ac.uk/contexts/on-pandemonium-a-new-work-by-ami-clarke/>. Accessed 27 July 2023..+Accessed+27+July+2023.>Google Scholar
Clarke, A. (2023) Pandemonium (do androids dream of?) Finance and Society, 9(3): 69–71.Google Scholar
Cleary, P. (2023) Asset managers in the everyday. Finance and Society, 9(3): 95–97.Google Scholar
Cooper, M. (2022) Family capitalism and the small business insurrection. Dissent, Winter. Available at: <https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/family-capitalism-and-the-small-business-insurrection>. Accessed 8 March 2022.CrossRef.+Accessed+8+March+2022.>Google Scholar
Dal Maso, G. (2023) The sickle and the garlic chives: Volatility in the Chinese stock market. Finance and Society, 9(3): 58–68.Google Scholar
De Man, P. (1973) Semiology and rhetoric. Diacritics, 3(3): 27–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Man, P. (1983) Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Deleuze, G. (1988a) Bergsonism. New York: Zone Books.Google Scholar
Deleuze, G. (1988b) Spinoza: Practical Philosophy. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books.Google Scholar
Deleuze, G. (2001) Cinema I: The Movement-Image. London: Athlone.Google Scholar
Deleuze, G. (2013) Cinema II: The Time-Image. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Dow, A. and Dow, S.C. (2011) Animal spirits revisited. Capitalism and Society, 6(2): n.p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esposito, E. (2011) The Future of Futures: The Time of Money in Financing and Society. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feher, M. (2009) Self-appreciation; or, the aspirations of human capital. Public Culture, 21(1): 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foucault, M. (2003) Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (2008) The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-79. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ging, D. and Siapera, E. (2018) Special issue on online misogyny. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4): 51524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacking, I. (1990) The Taming of Chance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haiven, M. (2018) Art After Money, Money After Art: Creative Strategies Against Financialization. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, D. (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harvey, D. (2010) The Enigma of Capital. London: Profile Books.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. (2023) Volatility: Meaning in finance and how it works with stocks. Investopedia, 31 March.Google Scholar
Available at: <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/volatility.asp>. Accessed 3 April 2023..+Accessed+3+April+2023.>Google Scholar
ISDA (2021) Evolution of OTC Derivatives Markets Since the Financial Crisis. New York: International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Available at: <https://www.isda.org/a/8jjTE/Evolution-of-OTC-Derivatives-Markets-Since-the-Financial-Crisis.pdf>. Accessed 24 July 2023..+Accessed+24+July+2023.>Google Scholar
Komporozos-Athanasiou, A. (2022) Speculative Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialized World. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keynes, J.M. (2007) The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Klein, N. (2008) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Knight, F.H. (2009) Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Orlando, FL: Signalman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kracauer, S. (1995) The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
La Berge, L.C. (2019) Wages Against Artwork: Decommodified Labor and the Claims of Socially Engaged Art. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, B. (2023) Varieties of volatility. Finance and Society, 9(3): 37–57.Google Scholar
Lee, B. and Martin, R. (eds.) (2016) Derivatives and the Wealth of Societies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, D.A. (2006) An Engine, Not A Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, R. (2002) Financialization of Daily Life. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, R. (2007) An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, R. (2012) A precarious dance, a derivative sociality. TDR/The Drama Review, 56(4): 62–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, R. (2013) After Economy? Social Text, 31(1): 83–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, R. (2015) Knowledge LTD: Toward a Social Logic of the Derivative. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Marx, K. (1976) Capital: Volume I. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Marx, K. (1981) Capital: Volume III. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
McClanahan, A. (2017) Dead Pledges: Debt, Crisis, and Twenty-First-Century Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ngai, S. (2020) Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Noble, S.U. (2018) Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: New York University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noorizadeh, B. (2023) Teslaism: Economics at the end of the end of the future. Finance and Society, 9(3): 72.Google Scholar
Rosamond, E. (2020) From reputation capital to reputation warfare: Online ratings, trolling, and the logic of volatility. Theory, Culture & Society, 37(2): 105–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosamond, E. (2023) YouTube personalities as infrastructure: Assets, attention choreographies and cohortification processes. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, OnlineFirst https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2023.2185873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, T.W. (1961) Investment in human capital. The American Economic Review, 51(1): 1–17.Google Scholar
Shamir, R. (2008) The age of responsibilization: On market-embedded morality. Economy and Society, 37(1): 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tooze, A. (2022) Welcome to the world of the polycrisis. Financial Times, 28 October. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/498398e7-11b1-494b-9cd3-6d669dc3de33>. Accessed 10 July 2023..+Accessed+10+July+2023.>Google Scholar
Varoufakis, Y. (2023) Why did the Silicon Valley Bank go bankrupt and trigger a banking crisis? Are we back to 2008? Brave New Europe, 16 March. Available at: <https://braveneweurope.com/yanis-varoufakis-why-did-the-silicon-valley-bank-go-bankrupt-and-trigger-a-banking-crisis-are-we-back-to-2008>. Accessed 23 April 2023..+Accessed+23+April+2023.>Google Scholar
Vermeir & Heiremans (2023a) A Modest Proposal (in a Black Box). Finance and Society, 9(3): 73–74.Google Scholar
Vermeir & Heiremans (2023b) Volatile properties: A Modest Proposal revisited. Finance and Society, 9(3): 75–90.Google Scholar