Monday, September 28, 2009

Money talks. (and listens.)

I want to say a little bit about the Lee-LiPuma article.
The unpegging of US currency from a gold standard resulted in the emergence of a new way to evaluate its worth: in relation to other currencies, through trade. Capital is in this way defined through the system of circulation in which it operates, as if merging with it; capital becomes a sheer exchange system. I can't help but draw parallels between this form of capital and language; it is unhinged, has no positive value but instead draws meaning from its temporal and syntactical context (particularly in finance capital forms such as derivatives)-- a meaning which, arguably as in langage, is infinitely deferred. How can studying language help us to understand the current properties and mechanisms of capital/exchange?

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