Arbitrage, uncertainty and the new ethos of capitalism

Mellor, Philip A.; Shilling, Chris

doi:10.1111/1467-954x.12416

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…These arbitrageurs exemplify the reflexive and future-oriented qualities of autonomy, confidence and conviction central to opportunity-directed characters, displaying 'immunity' to the other-directed concern with the approval of others and to the 'old paradigm' of equilibrium-based models of financial trading. As embodiments of an 'alertness to opportunity' characteristic of a broader entrepreneurialism (Kirzner, 2009), however, this form of opportunity-directedness is not confined to the economic realm (Mellor and Shilling, 2017). Miyazaki (2013: 110), for example, explores empirically how social arbitrageurs in Japan routinely seek to shape their futures across career and marriage decisions and, indeed, all areas of their lives.…”

Section: The Opportunity-directed Embrace Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fate of Social Character in an Age of Uncertainty

Shilling

Mellor

2020

Sociology

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This article develops the long-standing sociological tradition of ‘character studies’, arguing that the accelerated change and associated uncertainties central to late modern life have been accompanied by what we refer to as a new opportunity-directed form of individuality. Engaging with Sayer’s agenda-setting return to the subject, we acknowledge the ideological uses to which the promotion of this characterological form may be put, but argue that its core qualities can help suitably situated persons negotiate radical uncertainty via a reflexive, future-oriented commitment to agency. Despite the advantages of this orientation in the contemporary era, however, we conclude by suggesting that opportunity-directedness is associated with certain ‘pathologies’, involving psychological costs and social inequalities, that raise questions about its desirability and sustainability.

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Section: The Opportunity-directed Embrace Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fate of Social Character in an Age of Uncertainty

Shilling

Mellor

2020

Sociology

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“…Disagreement, not consensus, is central to the operation of markets (Mehrling, 2012). It is the inevitably pluralistic and contested viewings of the economy that create opportunity for arbitrage, the dynamic of financial innovation and profitability (Mellor and Shilling, 2017; Langenohl, 2018).…”

Section: Price As the Unity Of A Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

Noise as Information: Finance Economics as Second-Order Observation

Cunningham

Curtis

2020

Theory, Culture & Society

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In noise we hear the possibility of a signal, indeed different signals, and in the multiplicity of signals we hear noise. With variation and selection comes dynamic evolution, a contingent state, one that could be otherwise. The term ‘polemogenous’ (from the French, polémogène) means that which generates polemics. And polemics are creative. If everyone, every system, were to reason in the same way, there would be silence. Every remark would be redundant, having no informational value. Thus noise is not bad. The essence of finance economics, like all that is social in nature, is a forming of meaning. Whatever cannot be formed meaningfully is not available to the system. This unavailability, as ‘noise’, is the dynamic difference (noise/information) that scintillates the system. Information, like morality, is polemogenous – it stirs contention. Without noise and the possibility of its conversion to information there would be no opportunities to exploit. This paper applies a systems theoretical understanding of observation to conceive of finance economics as the economy’s means of observing its noise and capitalizing on that polemic. Niklas Luhmann’s method is utilized to explicate some ideas on noise by financial economist Fischer Black, who suggests the incomprehensible is computable. This is finance. The fact that logical grounds, absolute deductions, and clear calculations are claimed to be rare in finance is no barrier to understanding it. Rather, this polyphonic and polemogenous information-selection is the ‘ground’ of finance, not as totalizing logic, but as different difference-production for the sake of deriving economic opportunity.

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“…Yet, Quentin characterises a visceral isolation and anomic individualism expressed by many others when recalling their early days in finance. It is a process of adaption that necessitates, as Mellor and Shilling (2017: 24) state, a cognitive process of ‘managing the unknown via a creative commitment to overcoming economic and human limits’ (emphasis original). Here, the ‘managing of the unknown’ is driven by the demands of competition and instils a need to embrace an ethos of uncertainty and, as a trial of the self, to develop stocks of resilience to survive.…”

Section: Stocks Of Resilience: Vulnerability Isolation and Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By building a cultural and experiential understanding of a performative financial ethos, the article contributes to an emerging literature that conceptualises financial life as a system of practical and cognitive relations (e.g. Ho, 2009; Mellor and Shilling, 2017; Riach and Cutcher, 2014; Zaloom, 2006). This draws attention to the ways in which finance workers invest in a system of dispositions to create and maintain social unity and to engender a set of practices, hierarchies and power relations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, the article places the individual and their adaptive capacity at the centre of a wider mapping of material and structural relations of market movement, making visible a social and performative financial ethic. In contrast, the sociology of finance too often reproduces a structural presentation of a coherent market system that stands as an ideological and disembodied vision of 'truth', 'progress' and 'development'. Overlooked in this structural and systems-based approach is the significance of the financial markets as a socialised system of practice and cognitive development that sits at the centre of broader organisational and financial structure (Mellor and Shilling, 2017;Riach and Cutcher, 2014;Zaloom, 2006). Through the development and maintenance of a 'financial disposition', this article presents a need to conceptualise and explore the financial markets as a performed, social function that operates as a source of communication, interaction and domination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Establishing a Disciplining Financial Disposition in the City of London: Resilience, Speed and Intelligence

Simpson

2019

Sociology

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Examining the strategies, investments and values employed by finance workers in the City of London, this article draws on interview and ethnographic data to develop a culturally dominant ‘financial disposition’. Manifesting as an overarching strategy of discipline, and identifying the interlocking performative values of resilience, speed and intelligence, the findings articulate how finance workers invest in a system of practical and cognitive social relations to uphold an ideologically coherent system of ‘frictionless’ financial exchange. In doing so, the article allows us to see how an ideologically dominant market order, which is overwhelmingly subject to structural levels of analysis, establishes a set of durable yet adaptable social relations that contribute to the production of a coherent market system. It is a development that gives new meaning to the ways individuals adapt and contribute to the reproduction of material and structural relations and come to characterise the financial experience.

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Arbitrage, uncertainty and the new ethos of capitalism

Cited by 9 publications

References 60 publications

The Fate of Social Character in an Age of Uncertainty

The Fate of Social Character in an Age of Uncertainty

Noise as Information: Finance Economics as Second-Order Observation

Establishing a Disciplining Financial Disposition in the City of London: Resilience, Speed and Intelligence

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