Daniel Fridman

Freedom from Work

Embracing Financial Self-Help in the United States and Argentina

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Daniel Fridman is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 248
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. November 2016
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 231mm x 160mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 454g
• ISBN-13: 9780804798266
• ISBN-10: 0804798265
• Artikelnr.: 45003132

Autorenporträt

Daniel Fridman is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction
chapter abstract
The introduction opens with the story of Guillermo, a street book vendor
from Buenos Aires who, after some reluctance, became interested in the
world of financial self-help. By interpreting Guillermo's biography, this
chapter sets up the main themes of the book and outlines its basic
arguments and theories. It argues that financial self-help is an instance
of the production of capitalist economic subjects in contemporary
post-industrial societies, and brings together the literatures on
governmentality and performativity to argue that financial self-help is a
neoliberal technology of the self. The introduction also describes the
author's journey into the worlds of financial self-help of New York and
Argentina, the main settings and characters that will appear in the book,
and the methods used to gather evidence.
1Contemporary Financial Self-Help and the Rise of Neoliberalism
chapter abstract
Chapter 1 defines contemporary financial self-help and distinguishes it
from two of its closest relatives: general self-help and "get rich quick"
schemes. It then turns to the diagnosis provided by Robert Kiyosaki
regarding the end of corporate capitalism and of job security. His main
premise is that, as a result of inertia, people fail to understand that the
mainstream mobility path anchored in institutions such as higher education
and employment does not make sense in this day and age. Kiyosaki also
provides a theory of the class structure of capitalist societies (called
the Cashflow Quadrant) that associates certain objective positions
(employee, self-employed, business owner, and investor) with distinct forms
of subjectivity. He suggests that individuals should understand what their
position is and plan to leave positions in which they work for their money
and move to those in which they receive money from the work of others.
2It's Not About Money, It's About Freedom
chapter abstract
Chapter 2 dissects the widely used concept of financial freedom. In a
discourse with roots in libertarianism, readers are urged to combat their
conformist dispositions engendered in the welfare era and resist the
temptation of security in favor of a quest for freedom. They are exhorted
to fight external dependence on institutions as well as their internal
dependence on conformity and fear, and to essentially control their selves,
in a discourse that echoes that used in the addiction recovery movement.
The chapter provides four examples that illustrate the notion of financial
freedom: first, the rejection of family education; second, the rejection of
the school system; third, the rejection of gurus who advocate frugality as
a means of social mobility; finally, financial self-help's discourse on
gender, which ties financial self-help to a long tradition of technologies
of the self that combat dependency in women.
3From Rats to Riches
chapter abstract
This chapter looks at the Cashflow board game and its players. First,
through the practice of Cashflow, players acquire definitions of what being
rich means in the context of financial capitalism and establish financial
freedom as a specific goal. Second, they develop calculative tools adjusted
to the idea of financial freedom and incoming rent (called "passive
income"). Third, players work on the self by playing the game. They see
themselves "in action," and identify what must be modified in their selves
in order to produce the subjectivity that will lead them to financial
success. The chapter also scrutinizes the translation that participants
perform in practice in order to fit what happens in the game with what they
call "real life." Through this translation, players alter a game that is
often misaligned with reality in order to make it usable, frequently
modifying the rules and even creating new game cards.
4Creating a World of Abundance
chapter abstract
This chapter engages with the moral order of the world of financial
self-help. Although the ethics of financial self-help appear to be about
pure self-interest, there is space for generosity and disinterest in
economic gains. While pure economic self-interest is not acceptable, pure
generosity is deemed suspicious. This conflation of interest and
disinterest rests on the notion that pure disinterest is a sign of a yet
unchanged "poor" self. The rich, in contrast, live in a world of abundance
in which there is enough for everyone, and therefore, the dual aims of
interest and generosity are not contradictory. Two topics that illustrate
this non-contradictory character of interest and disinterest are examined.
First is what users make of the fact that financial gurus live off their
fans. Second, the chapter looks at an economic activity closely related to
financial self-help: multilevel marketing (MLM) companies.
5American Dreams in Argentina
chapter abstract
This chapter addresses the transnational circulation of financial
self-help. Financial self-help is a global phenomenon with its epicenter in
the United States. But a great deal of local work is needed to make
idiosyncratic American products work in the starkly different contexts of
developing countries. Users in Argentina actively try to adapt the theories
and advice to their more vulnerable (and less wealthy) economy and
financial system. For many people, a scenario of financial instability only
makes financial intelligence more important. In the face of difficult
conditions, Argentines make use of American resources by disentangling the
theories from the concrete applications. Financial self-help groups assist
users in this quest to apply American ideas to the Argentine context. These
social networks are as important as the products themselves, because by
trying to solve the problem of adaptability, they make the products
exportable.
Conclusion: Financial Self-Help and Beyond
chapter abstract
The conclusion returns to some of the theoretical and political issues
discussed throughout the book and suggests connections between the world of
financial self-help examined in this book and the growing attention to
financial literacy and entrepreneurship in policies by governments, NGOs,
financial institutions, and international agencies.
Methodological Appendix
chapter abstract
The methodological appendix presents a reflection about the author's
experience as an ethnographer in a world significantly different from his
own. For a researcher, it is impossible not to go through some of the same
anxieties and reflections that practices and discourses of financial
self-help produce in genuine practitioners. Participants were people who
shared ideas, performed practices, and constituted groups devoted to
something that we all are somewhat forced to think about: our personal
finances, our money, our jobs, and our retirements.