Magical capitalism, gambler subjects: South Korea's bitcoin investment frenzy.
'First, it was just tech people. Now, literally everyone is interested in bitcoin', said CNN News while reporting on the bitcoin mania that haunted South Korean society in the winter of 2017–2018. This study takes that speculative frenzy as an entry point for exploring lay bitcoin investors' experie...
| Publicado en: | Cultural Studies Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 96 - 120 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jan 2022
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=154361499&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 154361499 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09502386 05G jtl: Cultural Studies issn: 09502386 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan 2022 vid: 36 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 154361499 10.1080/09502386.2020.1788620 ppf: 96 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.6MB tig: atl: Magical capitalism, gambler subjects: South Korea's bitcoin investment frenzy. aug: au: Lee, Seung Cheol affil: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA su: Capitalism Gamblers Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Digital currency sug: subj: Capitalism Gamblers Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Digital currency keyword: financial subject magical capitalism mass investment culture performativity South Korea ab: 'First, it was just tech people. Now, literally everyone is interested in bitcoin', said CNN News while reporting on the bitcoin mania that haunted South Korean society in the winter of 2017–2018. This study takes that speculative frenzy as an entry point for exploring lay bitcoin investors' experiences and the 'magical' features of contemporary financial capitalism. It first situates the bitcoin investment boom in the contexts of South Korea's post-developmental transition and the rise of mass investment culture. Drawing upon participant observation of online communities for South Korea's bitcoin investors, this study then demonstrates how lay bitcoin investors' daily beliefs and practices are distinguished from more traditional economic subjectivities – namely, disciplined workers and rational investors. Lay bitcoin investors present themselves not simply as calculative investors but also as enchanted gamblers who often rely upon magical formulas and rituals that express their hopes and despairs in the face of an uncertain future. Instead of dismissing their beliefs and rituals as 'irrational exuberance', this study argues that their cultural practices should be understood as a reflexive response to the 'magical' mechanisms of the financial market based on self-referential valuation and self-fulfilling performativity. In examining how the logics of uncertainty and magic are returned at the heart of contemporary capitalism, this study consequently seeks to situate the lay investors' struggles in dealing with the ambiguous future within the broader transformation of the human condition during the triumphant rise of financial capitalism. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Cultural Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Cultural Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2022 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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