The Emotional Logic of Capitalism

"A unique and original rethinking of the conceptual and affective armature of economy, both in its emergence as a distinct domain of social life and object of analysis over the past century and in its new salience under the sign of neoliberalism." -- Randy Martin * New York University *
"This extraordinarily incisive and provocative book goes a long way toward explaining the tenacious grip of money on the American moral imagination." -- Eugene McCarraher * Villanova University *
"In his timely new book, The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed, Martijn Konings launches a sophisticated critique of the various disembedded, externalist understandings of capitalism associated with strands of American progressivism, generally rooted in the approach most forcefully developed by Karl Polanyi . . . Konings' analysis of capitalism is profound. It is original, sophisticated, and at its best, convincing." -- Bryant William Sculos * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *
"This book explores previously uncharted territory in which a very cultural system reinforces the market. The author's concern goes well beyond advertising, the media, or crass consumerism to suggest the existence of market icons, which like religious icons, bring a sense of important matters that go well beyond everyday life . . . Recommended." -- M. Perelman * CHOICE *
"In The Emotional Logic of Capitalism: What Progressives Have Missed, Martijn Konings reframes Marx's observations about money, calling on semiotics as well as political economy to make his case. Konings provides a thoughtful intellectual history to justify his framework, and he arrives at several refreshingly counterintuitive conclusions . . . Konings makes a compelling argument that markets are productive in social, cultural, and political as well as economic realms, and that both Marxist and neoclassical economists miss the full richness of these intertwined processes." -- Edward F. Fischer * European Journal of Sociology *
"[T]he discussion of the sadomasochistic rituals of earning, saving, and consuming as constituting the construction of wounded attachments of the individual to money and the role of these rituals in supporting the neoliberal order, both on affective and moral levels, is a pregnant insight into the deep human psychology that perpetuates the capitalistic status quo...there is much to recommend this book. It is no doubt a substantial contribution to discussions about how and why people are emotionally attached to capitalist culture." -- David M. Kutzik * Contemporary Sociology *
"I found the book to be a compelling and thought-provoking read. The writing is conceptually dense, yet concise and clear." -- Erin B. Taylor * Journal of Cultural Economy *
"[I]t is clear that there are many opportunities for Konings' arguments to make a significant contribution to our empirical understanding of the performative construction of the economy. His book serves to remind those of us interested in the organization of markets and the economy of the extraordinary power of signs – of icons – and encourage us earthbound ANTs to look occasionally to the heavens." -- Philip Roscoe * Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization *
"Konings employs insights from sociology, psychology, and semiotics, in addition to history and political economy, to craft a rich account of American exceptionalism as manifest in its long-standing tradition of populist republicanism, most recently in the Tea Party movement...This is an extremely important book that deserves wide and careful reading" -- Michael Keaney * Review of Radical Political Economics_________________________________________________ *