Capitalism and Its Legitimacy in Times of Crisis (Transformations of the State)

This volume examines why the 2008 financial crisis with the subsequent Great Recession did not foster a major institutional transformation of the capitalist market economy. It highlights the role of ideas and public discourse in explaining institutional stability and change in the wake of economic crises and other critical junctures. Examining legitimation discourse in four OECD countries (Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) between 1998 and 2011, the contributions to the volume use different text-analytical methods to bring out the ideas that underpin affirmative and critical media discourse on the capitalist regime. Individual chapters focus on the contours and trajectories of legitimation discourse before and after the financial crisis, on the attribution of responsibility for the crisis, on the use of metaphors and narratives, and on the formation of discourse coalitions challenging the regime. Together, they show that the post-2008 legitimation crisis of the capitalist market economy did not result in its sustained delegitimation or in powerful new ideas that might have mobilized support for radical institutional change. The book will appeal to students and scholars of economic sociology, media studies and political science.-- Provided by Publisher Capitalism and Its Legitimacy in Times of Crisis 4 Series Editors’ Preface 6 Preface and Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 Notes on Contributors 12 List of Figures 13 List of Tables 15 1 A Legitimation Crisis of the Capitalist Market Economy? 16 The Legitimacy of Economic Regimes: Conceptual Foundations 19 Is the Capitalist Market Economy A-Legitimate? 19 From the Social Construction of Legitimacy to the Role of Public Discourse 22 From Legitimation Crises to Institutional Change 25 Studying the (De-)Legitimation of the Capitalist Market Economy: Overview of the Book 29 A Comparative Perspective on Legitimation Discourse in Four Countries, Before and After 2008 30 The Grammar of Discursive Legitimation 32 A Mixed-Method Perspective on Legitimation Discourse 36 Appendix: Description of Text Retrieval and Data Collection Procedure 40 Notes 42 References 42 Cited Newspaper Articles 50 2 Justifying and Criticizing the Capitalist Market Economy: A Typology of Legitimation Criteria 51 Classifying (De-)Legitimation Criteria for the Capitalist Market Economy 52 A Typology of Economic Legitimation Criteria 55 Classical Forms of Justification and Criticism 57 Justice-Centred Forms of Justification and Criticism 62 Democracy-Centred Forms of Justification and Criticism 64 Culture-Centred Forms of Justification and Criticism 65 Alternatives to the Capitalist Market Economy? 67 Conclusion 69 References 70 3 Legitimation Discourse before and after the Financial Crisis: Contours and Trajectories 75 Intensity, Tone and Scenarios of (De-)Legitimation 76 Legitimation Intensity and Tone 77 Scenarios of (De-)Legitimation 81 The Nature of Legitimation Discourse 88 Types of Speakers 88 Legitimation Objects 94 Legitimation Criteria 99 Conclusion 104 Notes 105 References 106 Cited Newspaper Articles 108 4 Making Sense of the Great Recession: Responsibility Attributions in Tough Times 109 Legitimation Discourse and Responsibility Attribution 111 Responsibility Analysis: Methods and Data 115 Empirical Findings: How Responsibility Discourse Helped to Stabilize the Capitalist Market Economy 117 Whose Fault Is It? Causal Responsibility Attributions 118 Who Is Supposed to Clean Up the Mess? Treatment Responsibility Attributions 124 Conclusion 129 Notes 131 References 132 Cited Newspaper Articles 134 5 Metaphorical Anticapitalism: Regulation, Not Transformation 136 Theoretical Rationale, Research Design and Method 138 The Top Five Critical Metaphors and Regulatory Thought 141 Capitalism as a Human Being 142 Capitalism as an Animal 145 Capitalism as a Machine 146 Capitalism as a Human Body 148 Capitalism as Gambling 149 Five Metaphors and One Possibility of Change 150 Groups of Metaphors: Lack of Transformability 151 Capitalism Is a Human Artefact 154 Capitalism Is Something Natural 157 Capitalism Is Supernatural 159 Transformation Ahead? 160 Conclusion 161 Notes 163 References 166 Cited Newspaper Articles 169 6 Narrative Legitimation: The Capitalist Market Economy as a Success Story 172 Method: Narrative Discourse Analysis 173 The Wealth Narrative 179 The State-as-Helper Narrative 181 The State-as-Opponent Narrative 185 The Freedom Narrative 187 The Wealth and Freedom Narratives Compared 192 Conclusion 194 Notes 195 References 199 Cited Newspaper Articles 201 7 (De-)Legitimating Discourse Networks: Smoke without Fire? 203 Discourse Networks 205 Discourse Networks over Time 209 What Is Being Said? The Structure of Arguments 215 Who Speaks? Networks of Actors and Discourse Coalitions 220 Conclusion 227 Notes 229 References 230 Cited Newspaper Articles 232 8 Capitalism’s Resilience after the Financial Crisis: A Discursive Explanation 233 A Discursive Explanation of Capitalism’s Resilience 235 Findings 237 Diagnosis 237 Prognosis 240 Mobilization 242 The Closing Window of Opportunity 244 Political Consequences of the Financial Crisis 246 Notes 247 References 248 Index 251 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv A Legitimation Crisis of the Capitalist Market Economy? (Steffen Schneider, Henning Schmidtke)....Pages 1-35 Justifying and Criticizing the Capitalist Market Economy: A Typology of Legitimation Criteria (Frank Nullmeier, Dominika Biegoń)....Pages 37-60 Legitimation Discourse before and after the Financial Crisis: Contours and Trajectories (Henning Schmidtke, Steffen Schneider)....Pages 61-94 Making Sense of the Great Recession: Responsibility Attributions in Tough Times (Falk Lenke, Henning Schmidtke)....Pages 95-121 Metaphorical Anticapitalism: Regulation, Not Transformation (Jennifer Gronau)....Pages 123-158 Narrative Legitimation: The Capitalist Market Economy as a Success Story (Dominika Biegoń)....Pages 159-189 (De-)Legitimating Discourse Networks: Smoke without Fire? (Sebastian Haunss)....Pages 191-220 Capitalism’s Resilience after the Financial Crisis: A Discursive Explanation (Jennifer Gronau, Sebastian Haunss)....Pages 221-238 Back Matter ....Pages 239-260 Annotation This volume examines why the 2008 financial crisis with the subsequent Great Recession did not foster a major institutional transformation of the capitalist market economy. It highlights the role of ideas and public discourse in explaining institutional stability and change in the wake of economic crises and other critical junctures