Crack-Up Capitalism: Profiting from Fear in the Time of Pandemic

Professor Quinn Slobodian believes that during COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen the rise and expansion of ‘Crack-Up Capitalism’ – a form of capitalism promulgated by individuals whose profit model and normative vision of change rely on accelerating social dissolution and political fragmentation. In his address, Professor Slobodian offers short profiles on the kinds of ‘Crack-Up Capitalists’ which exist, and explores how they are impacting the world we live in. 

About the Speaker: 

Quinn Slobodian is the author of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, published by Harvard University Press in 2018. He is a visiting associate professor at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs for 2022 and Marion Butler MacLean Associate Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College. He is also an associate fellow at Chatham House and co-director of the History and Political Economy Project funded by the Hewlett Foundation. His new book, on capitalist exit fantasies, is out in 2023.