The Bad Faith in the Free Market by Peter Bloom

Author:Peter Bloom
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Obviously uncertainty—especially on such a massive scale—is a potent recipe for panic. Yet when the full scale of the problem was exposed and the financial order was revealed to be at best completely corrupted and at worst irredeemably rotten, the outcry for change was matched in intensity by the shared desire for recovery. Indeed, the aftermath of the near global financial crash was a persistent story of “crises and recovery” (see Hayward 2010). This seeming contradiction speaks to the deep psychic attachment that people still have towards the free market .

In part, this focus on recovery represents a broader affective crises narrative. The spectre of complete social breakdown brings with it understandable social anxiety . As the scholars Hicks and Dunn darkly observe “beneath the chatter of crisis and redemption make sure to listen for the slaughtering bell”. There emerges for this reason a pronounced nostalgia for the past—especially its once guaranteed promise of a stable and prosperous market future.

At first, it appeared that hope would triumph. The election of Barack Obama signalled the dawning of a new era. The existential moment was exemplified by the chants of “Yes we can” by historically marginalised people of colour and a politicized younger generation. However, these dreams of change were quickly dashed. Around the world, the emphasis was on reforming the status quo instead of replacing it. Thus “States of anxiety , insecurity, outrage, scepticism and more have been mobilized, managed, negotiated, contained and directed with few signs of success” (Clarke 2014: 109).

There is an obvious story to tell in retrospect that the incrementalism of Obama and the conservative embrace of austerity elsewhere was simply an instance of elite retrenchment. However, appearances can also be misleading. Those on the top also preyed on the affective bond that the wider populace has with the free market order, even as those on the bottom increasingly expressed their frustration with it. Namely, the individual futures that they had invested themselves in and the comfortable knowledge of the supposed market freedoms that would let them potentially one day achieve them (Bloom 2014).

Even if rationally, these aspirations were exposed as eternally out of reach, personalized myths of ultimate victory in a system firmly rigged against them—emotionally they are hard to simply abandon. Saving the system, therefore, was an attempt—at times even unconsciously—for preserving one’s dreams. This is reflective of the free market fantasy that “the sky’s the limit” (Bloom and Cederstrom 2009). To this end, capitalism becomes the exclusive engine of people’s desire . It is the sole means through which they can pursue fulfilment. Without it, there is palatable fear that they will be left with nothing.

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