Invitation to the online IPW Lecture Crack-Up Capitalists: Profiting from Fear in the Time of Pandemic
Lecturer: Quinn Slobodian (Wellesley College)
Moderation: Mathias Krams (IPW | University of Vienna)
When: Wednesday, 16 June 2021, 16:45
Where: online (please use the link below)
Abstract:
For most of us, the pandemic has been a time of isolation, hardship, and even illness and death. For others, however, it has been a time of opportunity. Beyond the historical surge of stock market valuation, specific individuals have navigated the waves of fear produced by the pandemic and lockdown to enrich themselves through novel forms of politics. Drawing on work I have done over the last year, my talk looks at two specific cases of "crack-up capitalists": the first are the entrepreneurs of so-called private cities and start-up societies who preach secession from existing nation-states in order to escape collective exposure and collective responsibility--not to mention democratic government. The second are the "movement hustlers" of the so-called "corona-skeptic" community, where esoteric entrepreneurs and self-branding tech gurus have turned contrarian opposition to vaccination and lockdown measures into personal paydays.
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Meeting-ID: 957 8535 8963; PW: 019598
