Daniel Fridman, “Freedom From Work: Embracing Financial Self-Help in the United States and Argentina” (Stanford UP, 2017)

episode

New Books in Public Policy not yet transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet Upvotes decide what gets transcribed next — 0 so far. Sign in to upvote

More from New Books in Public Policy

Michelle Adams, "The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North " (FSG, 2025) 1h 5m · 09 Sep 2026

All episodes from New Books in Public Policy →

Report any issue

Source

Recorded15 Feb 2018

Publisherfeeds.megaphone.fm

Handlerec:5319144

Show notes

In Freedom From Work: Embracing Financial Self-Help in the United States and Argentina (Stanford University Press, 2017), Daniel Fridman explores what it means to be an economic subject in what different people call the new economy, the post-industrial economy, or neoliberal capitalism. Fridman begins his investigation by looking into a best-selling book in what he calls financial self-help, an ascendant genre of self-help that tries to teach its readers how they should think about the economy today and what their goals and ethics ought to be as actors in that new economy. Using ethnographic and interview methods, Fridman gets to know the people who practice the advice of these books, participating in their various seminars and fascinating financially-focused board-game meet-ups. Fridman unpacks the core ideas that animate this world and shows that, far from being an isolated ideology, the worldview posited by financial self-help can teach us a lot about how people are remaking themselves as economic actors in the world today. Adding another level of analysis, the book also has a comparative component as Fridman tracks these groups and ideas as they play out across different cultures in the United States and in Argentina. This book will excite anyone interesting in making sense of the profound human changes that come attendant with our rapidly changing economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.