Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism “brings together nine informative
and insightful essays that address ‘the confounding effects of liberalization’ and prompt
new ways of thinking about the transnational contours of capitalism. Each contribution
offers an eye-opening analysis—grounded in solid research and, as with four of them,
in fieldwork—of capitalist crises involving consumption and speculation, labor and class
issues, mobility, autochthony, indigenous forms of religion, the global reach of
technologies and the media, and tourism capital. Reproductions of popular artwork,
photographs, and advertisements throughout the book reflect its global scope and
complement the text in intriguing ways. In the first essay, ‘Millennial Capitalism: First
Thoughts on a Second Coming,’ editors Jean and John L. Comaroff scrutinize ‘the
distinctly pragmatic qualities of the messianic, millennial capitalism of the moment: a
capitalism that presents itself as a gospel of salvation; a capitalism that, if rightly
harnessed, is invested with the capacity wholly to transform the universe of the
marginalized and disempowered.’” Laura Savu, University of North Carolina, Symploke.
“Comaroff and Comaroff begin the book with a compelling overview of millennial
capitalism’s distinguishing characteristics. It is a regime built upon consumption rather
than production, in which the value of labor has been eclipsed by the magic of capital.
As capital becomes distanced from the sites of production, an amoral ethos of gambling
and speculation comes to reign. Although finance is now popularly viewed as the prime
mover of millennial capitalism, the editors point to the continuing relevance of labor:
there are more industrial workers today than ever before. This global proletariat is more
feminized, more fragmented, and more removed from the centers of investment and
consumption. Moreover, this proletariat is increasingly mobile and decreasingly
regulated by states. The dismantling of the national arenas upon which class conflicts
traditionally raged inhibits the development of class consciousness, which in turn opens
up a subjective space increasingly filled by alternative identities and agendas: gender,
race, ethnicity, and, particularly, generation emerge as the salient tropes around which
individuals build self-consciousness…” Donna Perry, Western Oregon University,
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.