Capitalism: Anticipating the Future Present

Beckert, Jens

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36564-6_3

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Capitalism: Anticipating the Future Present

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Beckert, Jens
Soziologie des Marktes, MPI for the Study of Societies, Max Planck Society;

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36564-6_3
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Citation

Beckert, J. (2020). Capitalism: Anticipating the Future Present. In J.-H. Coste, & V. Dussol (Eds.), The Fictions of American Capitalism: Working Fictions and the Economic Novel (pp. 69-88). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36564-6_3.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-C3A2-7

Abstract

In a capitalist system, consumers, investors, and corporations orient their activities toward a future that contains opportunities and risks. How do actors assess the future if this future is open and uncertain? This chapter demonstrates how fictional expectations drive modern economies. Collectively held images of how the future will unfold are critical because they free economic actors from paralyzing doubt, enabling them to commit resources and to coordinate decisions even if those expectations prove inaccurate. Since they are not confined to empirical reality, fictional expectations are also a source of creativity in the real economy.