The Enrichment Economy: Narratives, Collectables and Heritage as Economic Resources

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In their lecture, the eminent sociologists Luc Boltanski (author of the influential The New Spirit of Capitalism) and Arnaud Esquerre will explore what they see as a new ‘enrichment’ form of capitalism and its close associations with the luxury sector, heritage and collectible objects.

Luc Boltanski is Directeur d’études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is the author of numerous books, including The New Spirit of Capitalism (with E. Chiapello); On JustificationEconomies of Worth  (with L. Thévenot); On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation;  and The Foetal Condition: A Sociology of Engendering and Abortion. With Arnaud Esquerre, he has co-authored a volume on the expansion of right-wing politics in French politics and thought: Vers l’extrême: Extension des domaines de la droite (2014).

Arnaud Esquerre is Chargé de recherché at the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique in Paris. He is the author of two books on the sociology of contemporary astrology (Prédire: L’astrologie en France au XXIe siècle) and the sociology of “sects” in France, including doomsday cults (La manipulation mentale: Sociologie des sectes en France). He has also written a work on the disposition of dead bodies, and has published most recently a book on testimonies of encounters with UFOs and extraterrestrials, under the title Théorie des évenements extraterrestres: Essai sur le récit fantastique (2016).

 

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Audience: Open to all