The Influence of Financialisation on Social Life - A Book Review of Paul H. Dembinski's Finanse po zawale. Od euforii finansowej do gospodarczego ładu (transl. Ł. Komuda, Studio Emka, Warsaw 2011)

Abstract

The book is the Polish language edition of Paul H. Dembinski's work published under the English title "Finance: Servant or Deceiver? Financialization at the Crossroads" (transl. from French by K. Cook, Palgrave Macmillan 2009). The author describes current human relationships shaped by the financial and market model. The relationships are based on calculation and mistrust, and tend to be short-term and impersonal. Finance is far more important today than it was thirty years ago. This practical and conceptual process may be called "financialisation", a process which has transformed our economy and society by increasingly organising them around the pursuit of financial efficiency. The author spent years analysing the forces of the financialised economy that currently affect us so profoundly. The anatomy of today's financial market model, carried along the lines of the systemic approach, is followed by a thorough analysis of its many deficiencies and pathologies. P. H. Dembinski provides clear and workable suggestions on what should be decided in order to reverse the recent trend toward financialisation both in the economic and socio-political sphere.