In a recent paper [Luo, Smith, and Zou (2009)] we showed that the spirit of capitalism could in theory resolve the two fundamental anomalies of modern consumption theory, excess sensitivity and excess smoothness. However, that basic model could not plausibly explain the empirical magnitude of excess smoothness. In this paper we develop two extensions of the model — one with transitory and perma...

The current era is characterized by two widely-held feelings among people living in the developed capitalist world: On the one hand capitalism seems exhausted, incapable of generating widespread prosperity and security; stagnation, crisis and deepening inequality are the new norms. On the other hand, in spite of this, capitalism seems triumphant, an implacable force of nature; there is no alter...

Chapter 1 illustrated the centrality of the role of the state in the establishment, organization, and coordination of the Fordist system of regulated capitalism. Before entering its final crisis in the late 1970s, the state was instrumental in fostering the material conditions of an ideology and a culture that legitimated regulated capitalism. This chapter continues the discussion of the condit...

Scholarship on varieties of capitalism (VofC) explores the ways in which the institutions structuring the political economy affect patterns of economic performance or policy making and the distribution of well-being. Contesting the claim that there is one best route to superior economic performance, a number of schemas have been proposed to explain why countries have often been able to secure s...

This paper examines media representations of labor and working conditions under late capitalism. Specifically, it presents an interdiscursive analysis of the “reality” television series Undercover Boss, drawing attention to themes that reflect and react against the vicissitudes of the Great Recession and recent labor struggles within service and hospitality industries in the US. With corporate ...

Since the crisis of Fordism, capitalism has been characterised by the ever more central role of knowledge and the rise of the cognitive dimensions of labour. Th is is not to say that the centrality of knowledge to capitalism is new per se. Rather, the question we must ask is to what extent we can speak of a new role for knowledge and, more importantly, its relationship with transformations in t...