Mümtaz Murat Kök
(Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
Abstract:
In this presentation, I am going to try and answer one of the questions in the call for the conference regarding the affective language of the contemporary global economy. In order to do so, I will focus on what I have termed as ‘discourses of optimism’ which exhibit blind belief and thus commitment to the inevitable human progress through capitalism. I will explore these discourses through a reinterpretation of the concept of “emotional capitalism” in that I will argue that they constitute an emotional commitment to capitalism. After having discussed the downside of the discourses of optimism, I will argue that pessimism (specifically ‘cosmic pessimism’) can and will affect much needed radical change in the face of increasing global inequality (and all that it brings with it) and impending climate disaster.
Mümtaz Murat Kök was born in Ankara in May 6, 1989. He completed his undergraduate studies at Izmir University of Economics (2008-2012). After that, he was admitted to Ege University for master’s study. He graduated from Ege University in 2015. Later, he attended the IFiS PAN/ Lancaster University Joint MA Programme at the Graduate School for Social Research. He is currently continuing his PhD studies at the GSSR.