Abstract

Scholarship in sociology and political economy is increasingly engaging with assetization: how objects are turned into return-bearing assets. Although assetization rests on power, it cannot be fully explained by it. This paper addresses this puzzle and argues that financial agency involves creating the social conditions for the exercise of financial power. To this end, the paper draws on an in-depth qualitative case study of social impact investing in Britain, where proponents sought to transform the funding of social welfare from nonrepayable grants to for-profit investments. To allure others to assetization, proponents developed a collective action frame to foster collective ignorance over the extractive nature of assetization. Although proponents held important sources of financial power, their success hinged on the credibility and salience of their discursive frame. Financial power thus has a noumenal basis, which is inherently fragile because it rests on deceit.

摘要

社会学和政治经济学的学术研究越来越多地涉及资产化：物品如何变成有回报的资产。资产化虽然是靠权力，但不能完全用权力来解释。本文解决了这个难题，并认为金融机构涉及为行使金融权力创造社会条件。为此，本文借鉴了英国社会影响力投资的深入定性案例研究，支持者试图将社会福利的资金从不可偿还的赠款转变为营利性投资。为了吸引其他人进行资产化，支持者制定了一个集体行动框架，以培养对资产化榨取性质的集体无知。尽管支持者掌握着重要的财力来源，他们的成功取决于话语框架的可信度和显着性。因此，金融权力有一个本体基础，它本质上是脆弱的，因为它依赖于欺骗。