Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism

John Patrick Leary, Associate Professor of English at Wayne State University, will speak about his latest book, “Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism” (Haymarket Press, December 2018). “Keywords” chronicles the rise of a new vocabulary. From Silicon Valley to the White House, from kindergarten to college, and from the factory floor to the church pulpit, we are now called to be innovators and entrepreneurs. In the midst of increasing inequality, such keywords apply the lessons of a competitive marketplace to every sphere of life. This new language of capitalism burnishes hierarchy, competition, and exploitation as leadership, collaboration, and sharing, modeling for us the habits of the economically successful person: be visionary, be self-reliant, and never, ever stop working.