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Financial nihilism today

24 March 2025, 5:30 pm–7:30 pm

a city with skyscrapers in a cloudy sky and mountains in the background

The Centre for Capitalism Studies is pleased to present a talk on financial nihilism by Amin Samman (City) with commentary from William Davies (Goldsmiths).

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Organiser

Institute of Advanced Studies

Location

IAS Common Ground
G17, ground floor, South Wing
UCL, Gower Street, London
WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

Nihilism has a long history in philosophy, literature, and politics. 

In his lecture, Amin Samman will track its inscription into economic discourse through money, debt, and finance, showing how the latest developments in digital finance restage the dilemmas of nihilism in new ways. From cryptocurrencies and meme stocks to Silicon Valley venture capital and the politics of public debt, economic life today thrives on the ambiguous allure of nothingness, annihilation, and disappearance. 

William Davies will respond with commentary on the talk and the broader theme of financial nihilism.

Please register to attend: https://uclccs-financialnihilism.eventbrite.co.uk


The UCL Centre for Capitalism Studies is a world-leading centre for critical interdisciplinary research into the past, present, and future of capitalism. It brings together UCL faculty and students studying how markets, finance and economic institutions shape our everyday life, structure societies’ capacity to change, and are contested and remade across time and space.

About the Speakers

Amin Samman

Reader in International Politics at Department of International Politics at City St Georges, University of London

Dr Samman is a Visiting Research Fellow at UCL Centre for Capitalism Studies. He studies the temporal, historical, and existential aspects of contemporary capitalism, with an emphasis on how these relate to the workings of money, debt, and finance. He is author of History in Financial Times (2019) and editor of Clickbait Capitalism (2025). His forthcoming book is titled Currency of Nihilism.

More about Amin Samman

William Davies

Professor of Sociology and Political Economy at Goldsmiths University of London

Professor Davies studies the interface of knowledge and power, drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Luc Boltanski, and Max Weber. He is author of The Happiness Industry (2015), The Limits of Neoliberalism (2016), and Nervous States (2018). His most recent publications include the journal article ‘Owning towards death: The asset condition as existential conundrum’.

More about William Davies