Occupy, Financial Fraternity and Gender Ventriloquism. (October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Seuffert, Nan
• Is Part Of: Law, culture and the humanities. Volume 10:Number 3(2014:Oct.)
• Page Start: 380
• Page End: 396
• Publication Date: 2014-10
• Subjects: Fraternity -- masculinity -- feminism -- Occupy movement -- derivatives -- revolution -- democracy -- casino capitalism -- finance -- neoliberal -- gender ventriloquism; Culture and law -- Periodicals; Sociological jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Law and the social sciences -- Periodicals; 340.11505
• DOI: 10.1177/1743872112466711
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-8721

Abstract

A prominent response to the Occupy movement has been the question "What does Occupy want?" What might we understand about this persistent questioning of the Occupy movement? How might we begin to think about the Occupy movement as resistance to the culture of Wall Street and politicians in recent decades? This article provides some thoughts on the conceptual and discursive relationships between the causes of the global financial crisis, including the neoliberal consensus on financial regulation, and some of the dynamics that have arisen in relation to the Occupy Wall Street movement. In particular, it suggests that Jacques Derrida's analysis of the tradition of fraternity in modern concepts of democracy, and feminist ideas on "speaking for others" may assist with understanding the relational gender dynamics of this regulatory consensus, the masculinity of the financial industry and the derivatives trading rooms, and one way in which dominant discourses are gendering the Occupy movement.