Magical capitalism, gambler subjects: South Korea's bitcoin investment frenzy. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Seung Cheol
• Is Part Of: Cultural studies. Volume 36:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 96
• Page End: 119
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Bitcoin -- magical capitalism -- financial subject -- mass investment culture -- South Korea -- performativity; Culture -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; 306
• DOI: 10.1080/09502386.2020.1788620
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-2386

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 'First, it was just tech people. Now, literally everyone is interested in bitcoin', said CNN News while reporting on the bitcoin mania that haunted South Korean society in the winter of 2017–2018. This study takes that speculative frenzy as an entry point for exploring lay bitcoin investors' experiences and the 'magical' features of contemporary financial capitalism. It first situates the bitcoin investment boom in the contexts of South Korea's post-developmental transition and the rise of mass investment culture. Drawing upon participant observation of online communities for South Korea's bitcoin investors, this study then demonstrates how lay bitcoin investors' daily beliefs and practices are distinguished from more traditional economic subjectivities – namely, disciplined workers and rational investors. Lay bitcoin investors present themselves not simply as calculative investors but also as enchanted gamblers who often rely upon magical formulas and rituals that express their hopes and despairs in the face of an uncertain future. Instead of dismissing their beliefs and rituals as 'irrational exuberance', this study argues that their cultural practices should be understood as a reflexive response to the 'magical' mechanisms of the financial market based on self-referential valuation and self-fulfilling performativity. In examining how the logics of uncertainty and magic are returned at the heart of contemporary capitalism, this study consequently seeks to situate the lay investors' struggles in dealing with the ambiguous future within the broader transformation of the human condition during the triumphant rise of financial capitalism.