scholarly journals Pigface masters of the universe: Whether it is the greed to blame for the financial crisis?

Sociologija ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Predrag Krstic

First part of the paper presents and analyzes some of the main arguments, which support the popular belief that greed is to blame for the 2008 financial crisis. The second part lists the counter-arguments that challenge this position in two ways: one set of arguments claims that greed is either not the main and single factor, or that is not the culprit at all; the second set, on the other hand, states that the scope of its influence is undermined and underrepresented, as well as that it is not considered in its ?structural? but only individual dimension. The final part of the paper presents a specific socio-psychological approach that could elucidate the extent to which unregulated greed could cause economic breakdowns. In addition, this approach attempts to question and operationally thematise implicit laws of modern capitalism with regard to both the recurring ups and downs that characterize it and the contradictory understanding and reception of the concept of acquisition, upon which it tend to built society.

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 724-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bell

This article argues that historical institutionalism has bifurcated into two competing accounts: one focused on institutional stasis and the other on change. A more encompassing theory that accounts for both processes is constructed using a more detailed account of agency – one that utilises key inputs from cognitive and social psychology. This can better account for the conditions under which institutional constraint or change occurs and is used to explain the variable behaviour of bankers in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
pp. 1396-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Rex

This research attempts to determine whether Congress was justified in shutting down the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. I do so by comparing its performance with that of the other federal banking regulators: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Reserve. Results show that the OTS is not consistently the worst performer across a variety of measures. This finding suggests it was unfairly scapegoated and that many of the problems attributed to the OTS still remain at the other agencies, despite financial reforms in 2010.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 324-335
Author(s):  
David Amezcua

This article deals with Antonio Muñoz Molina’s La noche de los tiempos (2009) and Todo lo que era sólido (2013a) and provides an interdiscursive analysis of both works, aiming to highlight their thematic and affective connections. Similarly, I contend that these works belong in the fabric of cultural narratives around the 2008 financial crisis. On the other hand, the spectral nature of the narrators of both La noche de los tiempos and Todo lo que era sólido is scrutinized, departing from Derrida’s notion of hauntology. Finally, the role of metaphors in the construction of reality is examined, paying heed to Muñoz Molina’s lucid analysis of the dominant metaphors that were used during the years prior to the 2008 financial crisis. His analysis leads us to consider the necessity of creating a new narrative for Europe which helps shape and redefine a new sense of Europeanness.


Author(s):  
Michael Harris

What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers, this book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources. Drawing on the author's personal experiences as well as the thoughts and opinions of mathematicians from Archimedes and Omar Khayyám to such contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck and Robert Langlands, the book reveals the charisma and romance of mathematics as well as its darker side. In this portrait of mathematics as a community united around a set of common intellectual, ethical, and existential challenges, the book touches on a wide variety of questions, such as: Are mathematicians to blame for the 2008 financial crisis? How can we talk about the ideas we were born too soon to understand? And how should you react if you are asked to explain number theory at a dinner party? The book takes readers on an unapologetic guided tour of the mathematical life, from the philosophy and sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film and popular music, with detours through the mathematical and mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx, and beyond.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivelina Pavlova ◽  
Ann Marie Hibbert ◽  
Joel R. Barber ◽  
Krishnan Dandapani

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