Capitalizing on Performativity: Performing on Capitalization

Symposium
16-17 October 2014
Paris

A cogent appraisal of the spirit of contemporary capitalism and its 
problems calls for renewed attention to the performative. Business 
schools, consultancy firms, corporations, investment banks, start-up 
companies, market research agencies, public administrations and other 
sites of business life are characterized by the presence of habits, 
idioms and apparatuses that constitute a significant part of the reality 
of business. These include techniques for the simulation of business 
situations, methods for the explanation of business problems, 
instruments for the valuation of business endeavours, and tools for the 
presentation of business outcomes. But simulation, explanation, 
valuation and presentation are not only about accounting for external 
states of affair. They are, at least in part, about moulding, enacting, 
provoking and effecting the business realities they signify.

Many things have been said indeed, from a large variety of angles, about 
the performative condition of capitalist business existence. The point 
now is to think about where to go from here. Contributors to this 
workshop are addressing this challenge from their own particular blends 
of intellectual concerns and research undertakings. The workshop aims at 
providing an occasion to discover and discuss what they have to say. 
Topics covered range from the anthropology of financialization to the 
critique of management, from the sociology of accounting to the politics 
of organization and the philosophy of law.

Speakers

Alaric Bourgoin, Laure Cabantous, Ève Chiapello, Kimberly Chong, Barbara 
Czarniawska, Liliana Doganova, Paul du Gay, Daniel Fridman, Martin 
Giraudeau, Penny Harvey, Sarah Kaplan, Andrew Leyshon, Javier Lezaun, 
Peter Miller, Fabian Muniesa, Horacio Ortiz, Álvaro Pina-Stranger, Paolo 
Quattrone, Michele Spanò, Signe Vikkelsø

This symposium is sponsored by PERFORMABUSINESS (Performativity in 
Business Education, Management Consulting and Entrepreneurial Finance), 
a project funded by the European Research Council (Starting Grant No. 
263529) and located at the Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation (Mines 
ParisTech/ARMINES).

The event takes place on 16 and 17 October 2014, 9:00 to 18:00, at Mines 
ParisTech, 60, Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75006 Paris, France. Public 
transportation include rapid transit train (RER B Luxembourg Station) 
and bus (lines 21, 27, 38, 82, 84, 85, 89).

Attendance is free within the limit of available space, and reservation 
is required. If you want to attend, or inquire about aspects of the 
symposium, please contact Pr. Fabian Muniesa at: 
[log in to unmask]

Details and updates at: http://www.csi.mines-paristech.fr/performabusiness/

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