The Social Foundations of Global Finance

Edited by Chris Clarke, Ben Clift

Publication date:

02 October 2025

Publisher

Agenda Publishing

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781788218085

Through the interrogation of the social foundations of global finance, Tim Sinclair revealed the power relations within the global political economy. His unique and pioneering perspective examines the role of private authority, the institutional complexities of global financial markets and ideational realm and intersubjective processes involved in constructing economic rectitude to offer a fresh perspective on the way global finance and its politics works. This volume brings together a group of scholars inspired by Sinclair’s work to critically engage, apply and further the social foundations approach to global finance.

Foreword by Katie Lavelle

1. Introduction: Timothy Sinclair’s social foundations approach to global finance
Chris Clarke and Ben Clift

2. CRAs and the idea of history: the role of synchronic and diachronic mental frameworks in the work of Timothy J. Sinclair
Randall Germain

3. Tim Sinclair’s iconoclastic relationship with Marxism
Magnus Ryner

4. Disintermediated knowledge industries: thinking about academic knowledge production with Timothy J. Sinclair
Aida Hozic

5. From ratings to infrastructures: uncovering the micro-foundations and global politics of finance
Johannes Petry

6. The political economy of credit rating agencies: American short-termist universalism, Europe’s acquiescence, and East Asia’s resistance
Fumihito Gotoh, Norbert Gaillard and Rick Michalek

7. Managing multiple audiences: the importance of legitimacy for bond index providers and the politics of bond indexing
Dan Wood

8. The social foundations of finance in an era of fintech
Chris Clarke

9. The queen and the perfect bicycle
Timothy Sinclair

10. Of markets and models: the extended realm of the mundane in the social foundations of finance approach
Matthew Watson

Tim Sinclair was a trailblazer in the modern study of the politics and social foundations of global finance. This volume provides a beautiful reminder of the creative, multi-faceted, and eclectic nature of his ideas by advancing debates on many topics he encouraged us to analyse in his important work. It stands as a testament to the enduring value and legacies of the innovative Sinclairian approach to the subject. A triple-A rating!