Aftermath: The Cultures of the Economic Crisis

The crisis of global capitalism that has unfolded since 2008 is more than an economic crisis. It is structural and multidimensional. The sequence of events that have taken place in its aftermath show that we are entering a world that is very different from the social and economic conditions that characterized the rise of global, informational capitalism in the preceding three decades. The policies and strategies that were intended to manage the crisis--with mixed results depending on the country--may usher in a distinctly different economic and institutional system, as the New Deal, the construction of the European Welfare State, and the Bretton Woods global financial architecture all gave rise to a new form of capitalism in the aftermath of the 1930s Depression, and World War II. This volume examines the cultures and institutions at the root of the crisis, as well as the conflicts and debates that may lead to a new social landscape, including the rise of alternative economic cultures in the social movements that have sprung up around the world. This collection of essays presents the results of a shared project of reflection by a group of international sociologists and social scientists, led by Manuel Castells. They conclude that to address life beyond the crisis, we need nothing less than a complete transformation of the mind-set that led to bankruptcy and despair, and to economies and societies based on an unsustainable model of speculative finance and political irresponsibility. Contributors to this volume - Manuel Castells, University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society, the University of Southern California. Joao Caraca, Director of the Science Department, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon. Gustavo Cardoso, Professor of Media and Society, IUL - Lisbon University Institute. Rosalind Williams, the Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology, M.I.T. John B. Thompson, Professor of Sociology, the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Michel Wieviorka, Professor, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), and President of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme (Paris) Sarah Banet-Weiser, Professor in the School of Communication, USC Annenberg and the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Terhi Rantanen, Professor in Global Media and Communications, the London School of Economics and Political Science. Pekka Himanen, Professor of Philosophy, the Aalto University, Helsinki. Pedro Jacobetty, PhD student and Researcher, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Investigacao e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal. Amalia Cardenas, Researcher, the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona. Joana Conill, Researcher, the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona. Lisa Servon, Professor of Urban Studies, the Milano School of Management, New School University, New York. Ernesto Ottone, Chair Professor of Political Science, the Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile, and Associate Professor at the Universidad de Chile You-tien Hsing, Professor of Geography, and a Senior Fellow, the China Center and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley.