Enrichment - A Critique of Commodities - A Critique of Commodities

This book offers a major new account of modern capitalism and of the ways in which value and wealth are created today. Boltanski and Esquerre argue that capitalism in the West has recently undergone a fundamental transformation characterized by de-industrialization, on the one hand, and, on the other, by the increased exploitation of certain resources that, while not entirely new, have taken on unprecedented importance. It is this new form of exploitation that has given rise to what they call the 'enrichment economy'.
The enrichment economy is based less on the production of new objects and more on the enrichment of things and places that already exist. It has grown out of a combination of many different activities and phenomena, all of which involve, in their varying ways, the exploitation of the past. The enrichment economy draws upon the trade in things that are intended above all for the wealthy, thus providing a supplementary source of enrichment for the wealthy people who deal in these things and exacerbating income inequality.
As opportunities to profit from the exploitation of industrial labour began to diminish, capitalism shifted its focus to expand the range of things that could be exploited. This gave rise to a plurality of different forms for making things valuable - valuing objects in terms of their properties is only one such form. The form that plays a central role in the enrichment economy is what the authors call the 'collection form', which values objects based on the gap they fill in a collection. This valuation process relies on the creation of narratives which enrich commodities.
This wide-ranging and highly original work makes a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary societies and of how capitalism is changing today. It will be of great value to students and scholars in sociology, political economy and cultural studies, as well as to anyone interested in the social and economic transformations shaping our world.

List of contents

Acknowledgments
 
Translator's note
 
Preface by Charles Sabel
 
Introduction
 
PART I. Destruction and Creation of Wealth
 
Chapter 1. The Age of the Enrichment Economy
 
The deindustrialization of Western Europe
 
Old and new sites of prosperity
 
The omnipresence of enriched objects
 
The rise of luxury
 
Heritage creation
 
The development of tourism
The expansion of cultural activities
 
The art trade
 
Arles: from railroad shops to contemporary art exhibits
 
An economic reorientation toward the wealthy
 
Chapter 2. Toward Enrichment
 
The characteristics of an enrichment economy
 
Dormant resources in the enrichment economy
 
Changes in French cultural policy
 
A new perspective in economic analysis
 
A shift to different scales
 
From ornamental patrimony to heritage creation
 
Local mutations in global capitalism
 
Partisans of things
 
Part II. Prices and Forms of Valuation
 
Chapter 3. Commerce in Things
 
The commodity condition
 
On the circulation of things
 
Changing hands
 
The process of determination
 
Price and metaprice
 
Critiquing the price
 
Value as justification for a price
 
Price as an element in the construction of reality
 
Chapter 4. Forms of Valuation
 
Structure and transformation group of forms of valuation
 
Analytic and narrative presentations of things
 
The problem of valuation by means of images
 
On the reproduction of things
 
Institutions and forms of valuation
 
Structuralism and capitalism
 
Competition from a systematic viewpoint
 
Capitalism and markets
 
The role of the capacity to reflect
 
The structure of the forms of valuation
 
Part III. Commodity Structures
 
Chapter 5. The Standard Form
 
The model for the standard form
 
The standard form and industrial production
 
Prototypes and specimens
 
The proliferation of things without persons
 
The internal tensions of the standard form
 
The unease created by the standard form
 
Chapter 6. Standardization and Differentiation
 
The historical dimension of the forms of valuation
 
From trade in things to the circulation of commodities
 
The effect of standardization on the constitution of forms of valuation
 
Material economies, immaterial economies
 
Chapter 7. The Collection Form
 
The modernity of the collection form
 
Systematic collection as an arrangement for valuation
 
Collectors' items
 
Price and value of collectors' items
 
The fields of collectibles
 
The structure of the collection form
 
Chapter 8. Collection and Enrichment
 
The usefulness of useless things
 
Collecting in thrall to marketing
 
On the use of the collection form by luxury firms
 
From lumber to luxury goods: the transformation of the Pinault group into Kering
 
Capturing the wealth of the wealthiest
 
Values and prices of luxury product brands
 
Standard products with a "collector effect" and collectors' items
 
The collection form and contemporary art
 
The contradiction of the enrichment economy
 
Chapter 9. The Trend Form
 
Trend, sign, and distinction
 
The structure of the trend form
 
The economic constraints of the trend form
 
From the trend form to the collection form
 
Chapte

About the author

Luc Boltanski is Professor of Sociology at the EHESS, Paris and he is the author of many books, including The New Spirit of Capitalism (with Eve Chiapello).

Arnaud Esquerre is a researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Issues (Paris).

Summary

This book offers a major new account of modern capitalism and of the ways in which value and wealth are created today. Boltanski and Esquerre argue that capitalism in the West has recently undergone a fundamental transformation characterized by de-industrialization, on the one hand, and, on the other, by the increased exploitation of certain resources that, while not entirely new, have taken on unprecedented importance. It is this new form of exploitation that has given rise to what they call the 'enrichment economy'.
The enrichment economy is based less on the production of new objects and more on the enrichment of things and places that already exist. It has grown out of a combination of many different activities and phenomena, all of which involve, in their varying ways, the exploitation of the past. The enrichment economy draws upon the trade in things that are intended above all for the wealthy, thus providing a supplementary source of enrichment for the wealthy people who deal in these things and exacerbating income inequality.
As opportunities to profit from the exploitation of industrial labour began to diminish, capitalism shifted its focus to expand the range of things that could be exploited. This gave rise to a plurality of different forms for making things valuable - valuing objects in terms of their properties is only one such form. The form that plays a central role in the enrichment economy is what the authors call the 'collection form', which values objects based on the gap they fill in a collection. This valuation process relies on the creation of narratives which enrich commodities.
This wide-ranging and highly original work makes a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary societies and of how capitalism is changing today. It will be of great value to students and scholars in sociology, political economy and cultural studies, as well as to anyone interested in the social and economic transformations shaping our world.

Report

?Boltanski and Esquerre propose a grammar of things and their value that sheds new light on the transformations of contemporary capitalism. An original and powerful work which will undoubtedly stimulate much debate.?
Clement Lefranc, Sciences humaines
 
?A seminal book.?
European Journal of Sociology
 
"Expansion of industry blocked, capitalism in France?and not only there?seeks shelter in the production by select artisans and artists of 'authentic' goods for the winners of globalization. Enrichment is a brilliant and deeply disturbing study of this grim involution, by which a nation?s history and identity become its last resource, and new forms of labor market inclusion and exclusion disarm traditional criticism of exploitation. This book is a foundation stone in a sociology of dystopia for our times."
Charles Sabel, Columbia Law School
 
?Uplifting, fun, accessible to all, Enrichment is the most scholarly and relevant analysis to finally make sense of the current 'madness' of the art market. It fascinates speculators, disconcerts art lovers, and arouses public distrust. But the observation is obvious to all: in our post-industrial societies, heritage, luxury goods and even contemporary art are the only source of wealth that we have. They are now part of the main foundations of our economy."
Catherine Millet, founder and editor of Art Press

Product details

• Authors: L Boltanski, Lu Boltanski, Luc Boltanski, Luc (Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales Boltanski, Luc Esquerre Boltanski, Boltanski Luc, Arnaud Esquerre, Catherine Porter
• Assisted by: Catherine Porter (Translation)
• Publisher: Polity Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2020
• EAN: 9781509528721
• ISBN: 978-1-5095-2872-1
• No. of pages: 600
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Soziologie, Gesellschaftstheorie, Kulturwissenschaften, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Social Theory, Allg. Kulturwissenschaften, Ökonomische Soziologie, Sociology of Economics