The Economic Life of Things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets

Luc Boltanski, Arnaud Esquerre.

New Left Review,
New Left Review,
2016, pp.31-54.

Summary

Introduction
● (First development) Deindustrialization
● “Due to computer technology, many sectors that had long remained on the margins of
the industrial world—small traders, education, healthcare, personal services—are now
adopting the management practices of global corporations, and are subject to
accounting standards that come from industry” (p. 1)
● “De-industrialization here refers rather to the relocation of manufacturing, away from the
advanced-capitalist heartlands that will be the focus of this essay, to states where it is
possible to pay low wages, even though the peaks of the global ‘value chains’ and much
of the design remain in the North” (p. 1)
● “[owners of small businesses] Those whose interests are still linked to the old, declining
industrial economy are haunted by fears of unemployment, poverty and a drop in status,
resentments that have fueled the rise of the far right.” (p. 2)
● (Second development): There is a lack of a category system capable of generating
totalizations that would enable to elucidate specific dynamics. “World of objects, drawing
upon our readers’ ordinary sense of social reality” (p. 2)

Luxury and heritage

● “increasing visibility given to objects exchanged for very high prices”
○ How to Spend It
○ Le Magazine
○ Libération’s Next
○ Obsession
● “advertisements for luxury goods—watches, cars, jewellery, perfumes—with articles on
cutting-edge lifestyle products, desirable locations and celebrity artists or designers.
Components of the same world.” (p. 3)
● Commodities on display are valued not for their utility or sturdiness, but because they
“are new or different—and, unavoidably, because of their price.” (p. 3)
○ “plane of immanence” (p. 3): human beings surrounding these objects and the
‘remarkable’ personalities.
● [at the heart of this conglomeration is the] “luxury industry”. “In France, as in Italy, the
sector has undergone a particularly robust growth, accounting for as much as 9 percent
of the annual export market.” (p. 3)
● “blurring the line between commercial and creative industries.” (p. 3-4)
 ○ Pinault and Arnault
● “heritage creation” (p. 4).
○ “Real estate as fine art”
○ “France’s most beautiful villages”

The enrichment process

● “What is the link between de-industrialization, the increased demand for ‘exceptional’
products, and the heritage mania?” (p. 4)
● “Our perspective differs from Bourdieu’s in that we focus on the production of wealth, rather
than its consumption, in order to understand changes that have affected not only the dominant
classes, but the entire cartography of social division.” (p. 5)
● “We will begin with the objects themselves, examining how they are invested with a
value and status of their own, that of ‘richness’.” (p. 5)
● The social logic of ‘enriched objects’ differs from that of the industrial world.
○ Two ideal-types of economy in schematic form
○ Enrichment refers to “the processes that increase the value of objects” (p. 5)
● Different conventional forms: physical or cultural. Enrichment economies (p. 5)
● “The value of things is based on the work of many different actors” (p. 5)
○ In enrichment economies: “property rights, especially for intellectual property” (p.
5)
● “Social classes based on different selection criteria” (p. 5)
● “It is difficult to quantify the economic weight of enrichment-based activity… It combines
sectors (art, tourism), activities (museum management, the manufacture of alligator-skin
handbags) and employment statuses (casual worker, civil servant, celebrity)” (´p. 5)
● “new social identities and conflicts” (p. 6) In the sphere of enrichment economies.
● Theoretical framework for underpinning social criticism “workers and those who
controlled the means of production”
● “The role played by intellectual property rights in the accumulation of wealth” (p. 6)
● Objects and the establishment of value: “the creation and destruction of value” and
“social life of things”
○ Change hands for money
○ Inherited
○ Donated
● “objects undergo a test which establishes their value, either as a price, or through a
comparative appraisal with other objects. ‘Price’ here refers to the outcome of the test
which takes place when the object changes hands.” (p. 6)
● “Enrichment economies generate their own class structure, with a patrimonial class of
growing importance on the one hand and a badly paid, insecure precariat on the other.”
(p. 6)
● “Value, on the other hand, serves as the justification for prices”
● “Value is thus essentialist: it refers to properties said to be inherent to the object in
question, but it remains conjectural as long as the object has not passed the exchange
test and found its price.” (p. 7)
● Real value vs market value = price.
 ● “priceless” needs to be understood as based on different forms
○ “collective resource to which actors can refer when trying to orient themselves in
the world of objects.” (p. 7)
■ Standard form
■ Collection form
■ Asset form

Mass-produced values
● “The invention of standardized production”, important for the development of industrial
society
● “differential axis” (p. 8)
○ begins with objects that satisfy generic needs
○ temporal axis: the length of time a product is expected to satisfy its user before it
becomes waste
■ disposable products, such as razors
■ durable products, such as expensive watches
○ diagonal line that distinguishes objects in terms of ‘ranges’

Enriched objects
● Origins of collection form same as standard form or even farther. According to Foucault,
systematic collections began in the first third of the 19th century.
● One of the first works dedicated to collectors: Balzac’s novel Le Cousin Pons in 1847
and Anatole France’s The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard in 1881
● “the advance of the collection form of valuation, at the expense of the standard form, is
linked to the decline of industry in its former heartlands.” (p. 10)
○ Feature of the collection form is “its orientation towards the past.” (p. 10)
○ “Establishes the worth of older things, independently of their possible uses”
 ○ “Places little emphasis on labour time”
○ “Takes account of other costs such as conservation”
○ The objects, “Instead of decreasing in worth as they grow older, they become
more valuable”
○ Examples: “precious antiques, works of art, historic buildings, even watches or
cars that are no longer in production.”
○ Can also be found in the “world of high-end commodities”
● Luxury-goods market:
○ Establish exceptional brand identity by manufacturing products in strictly limited
series
○ “Establishment of value through narrative” (p. 11)

Art’s values
● “Luxury firms invest resources in scouting the contemporary art world, so that their
goods mimic the aura surrounding the work of art.” (p. 11)
● Art enthusiasts are referred to as “collectors”, works of art have a secure place in the
‘collection category’. (p. 12)
● An object is only considered a work of art once it has entered the world. “When the
object finds its place in a collection”. (p. 12)
● Selective process, for example, in museums. The artifacts that are displayed are few,
whereas the rest of them are destined for oblivion.
● “Treating the work as if it already belonged to the past” - Selection parameters are based
on an idea of posterity
● Collection form plays a part in the process of heritage creation.
○ Objects that were headed for decay are selected, restored and linked to historical
narratives to boost their value.
○ Example: Inclusion to a list like UNESCO’s World Heritage catalogue
○ Notion of ‘culture’
○ “Members of a community can exploit the perspective formerly applied to them
by outside observers, transforming their everyday lives and products into
commodities that can be marketed in search of exoticism”. (p. 12)
 ● Map in to intersecting axes, reference to two categories: prototypes and specimens.
● Cheap items then transformed into collectible items “after having lost all market value,
whereupon their price suddenly increased”.
● Temporal axis different from standard form since “the collection form establishes the
value of objects outside of use.” (p. 13)
● Temporality: “the ability of these objects to produce memory effects.” (p. 13)
● “Memory strength is a quality that is socially attributed” (p. 14)
○ Evokes a memory for one person only or for a large group of people

Filling the gaps

● “Values that help sketch a kind of ideal-type” (p. 14)
● “Building a collection is rarely a solitary activity”
● “establish a system of principles governing the field as a whole”
● Conventions: “ideal collection, based on shared conventions”
● “a collection is not so much an assembly of objects as a systematic organization of
differences.” (p. 14)
● “Trading with others active in the same field” (p. 15)
● Exchanges, those who are quickest to establish themselves in a particular field: “play a
part in determining the shape of the ideal collection. Newcomers have to adapt to
conventions.” (p. 15)
○ Option is to “remain in the field and try to reshape its contours to your advantage”
○ “Holding a position of authority”
● Aesthetic innovation linked to a ‘standard of originality’ and with ‘avant-garde rebellions’
● Raymond Moulin (L’Artiste, L’institution et le marché): “‘originality’ in the sense was
linked to the formation of specific fields in which artists competed for recognition.” (p. 15)
● “‘Art for art’s sake’ does have a functional side”
○ Establishing a market with artists whose works are more easily accessible, critics
and curators establish the new-comer’s value, etc.
○ “Emerging countries like India, Brazil or China” (p. 16)
 ○ History of art / geography: “The result will be not only to raise the price of those
works, but to modify the vast imaginary collection called the history of art by
expanding its geographical range.” (p. 16)
● In a broader economic context: Collectors have “other interests”, “other ways of
acquiring wealth
● “Collecting still operates within the cognitive structure that accompanied the
development of capitalism, based on homologous series of oppositions between work
and leisure, necessity and excess, business and pleasure.” (p. 16)
● 19th century narratives “blended the languages of passion and commerce, love for
objects and love for money.” (p. 16)
● Freud: “Freud himself was a collector” (nota al pie 20)
● “The collection form makes it possible to neutralize the tension between an object’s
‘intrinsic value’ and its market value”. (p. 17)
● Transactions between art collectors:
○ The value assigned by art critics appears to be independent from ‘economic’
considerations, nevertheless, the decisions supply the foundation for the prices
agreed between artists, sellers and collectors.
○ “For the price of a work to be legitimate, it must appear to correspond with the
value assigned by those who are meant to be above such thrifting matters.” (p.
17)

Goods as assets
● “Objects can circulate according to principles that conform to constraints that could be
called the ‘asset’ form, in the sense of items bought purely for the opportunity they offer
to accumulate capital.” (p. 17-18)
● “The only relevant property of the object is its price”, “regardless of its ‘standard’ or
‘collection’ value”
● “Differences: converting the object into hard cash: its liquidity”
● Three factors:
○ Transportability of the object
○ Ability to conduct transactions discreetly
○ The existence of reliable tools of assessment that can be used over a wide
geographical area so that the object can be bought or sold for a similar price in
many different places.
○ “Paintings, manuscripts and old books” (p. 18)
● (Clare McAndrew, ed., Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of
Ownership) Nota al pie 23
● “Paintings can almost play the role of money surrogates” (p. 19)
 ● “When objects are treated as assets, their capitalization--that is to say, the present value
of their anticipated future revenue stream--is defined in relation to the temporal axis” (p.
19-20)
● “The aim of capitalization is to estimate the article’s current price: what a buyer would be
prepared to pay now to secure its ownership, in hope of future revenue, instead of
investing this money in another transaction involving other goods.” (p. 20)
● “Article’s value set as current capital if it is balanced by a discount rate that incorporates
the cost of time and cost of risk.” (p. 20)
● “The temporal axis is determined by reference to more or less distant futures.” (p. 20)
○ Opposition, moderate risk cost on condition they are traded in the short term:
“The preference for present profits wins out over the future”
○ Items change hands very quickly, Financial crises: “1637 Dutch tulip bubble” or
“works of contemporary art”
● “Money earned from trading in highly volatile assets can be ‘banked’ --current trend
among banks to suspend the distinction between savings and investment.” (p. 21)
○ Art collectors: cherish their paintings while also treating them as a kind of reserve
currency.
● Approach:
○ 1. As an individual with his or her own interests, in competition with other
individuals who desire the same object
○ 2. As someone who belongs to a collective, an elite band of wealthy collectors,
who all want to maintain the value of the objects they posses.
● “Develop specific forms of cooperation, including competition.” (p. 21)

Time and difference

● “Weber’s definition of capitalism stressed the imperative of unlimited accumulation” (p.
21)
● “One of the striking features of modern capitalism is that large-scale factory production is
being shifted to East Asia, while the former industrial powers are developing an
economic model that establishes the value of objects in a different way: something that
we call an ‘enrichment economy’” (p. 22)
● “departure from capitalism itself, but it’s nothing of the sort.” (p. 22)
○ “Important role played by finance capital; whose circuits can be shifted to
generate profits from outsourced industrial development while also stimulating a
reorientation towards an enrichment economy at home.” (p. 22)
○ “get to grips with other ways of establishing the value of products that remain
oriented towards exchange, even if they are not manufactured along industrial
lines.” (p. 22)
■ Nancy Fraser, ‘Behind Marx’s Hidden Abode’ (Nota al pie 31)
● Boltanski and Esquerre categorize objects based on exchange and also temporal and
differential qualities.
○ “The first concerns how time is handled in establishing the value of objects; the
second relates to ways of profiting from their difference.” (p. 23)
○ “Obsolescence” plays a major role in standard industry
○ (Collection form) “while even newly created objects, such as contemporary works
of art, can be treated as though they were destined to become immortal--
appraised from a point projected into the future, from which they can be
considered as if they already belonged to the past.” (p. 23)
● Question of differences between things raises the issue of power: “who controls the
determination of these differences and the establishment of their value?” (p. 23)
● “Those who create the narratives of difference on which the value of objects is based must be
seen to be independent of those who profit from such evaluations.” (p. 24)
○ ‘Disinterestedness’ is manifested indirectly.
● “The narrative of the past on which collection-form values are based relies upon the
support of major institutional bodies and usually has a national foundation; once it has
been established, it tends to be much stronger than the narratives of the present or the
future” (p. 24)
● “Enrichment economies are no less inegalitarian than their industrial counterparts, then,
but exploitation through the work process assumes a different form.” (p. 24)
○ “The workforce is widely dispersed, divided between public and private domains,
between wage-earners and informal precariat.”
○ Wider range of activities, many of which are not even identified as ‘work’, but
rather presented as an expression of ‘desire’ and ‘passion’.
● “This terrain, is not conducive to the emergence of new social and political forces strong
enough to confront unequal wealth distribution and capable of redeploying value-
determination arrangements to more egalitarian ends.” (p. 24)