Capitalist Cold

The capitalist system has often been described by its critics as a heartless economic structure corroding social bonds and symbolic values. Its defenders and analysts likewise use narratives that position emotions as central to the economy. This book enquires into the history of these framings.

To explore the role of emotions in economic practices and imaginaries, the volume presents case studies including original rereadings of well-known texts such as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment, as well as forays into little-known histories such as representations of capitalists in post-war Turkey, and how art dealers strategically used emotions for navigating the market in interwar Germany. Rather than simply reproducing the image of “cold capitalism”, however, it offers nuanced investigations into the ambivalent images evoked by living and working within economic structures. In late-socialist Poland, capitalism felt “warm” and “fuzzy”, while pop culture of the seventies found it not destructive but cool, hip, and edgy.

This book is aimed at students and scholars of social, economic, and cultural history.