Liquidated

Financial collapses, such as those in the junk bond market, Internet bubble, and housing market, are frequently attributed to natural market cycles. However, Karen Ho challenges this notion in her exploration of how financial markets, particularly their booms and busts, are socially constructed. Drawing from her own experiences as an investment banker, Ho delves into the everyday realities and ideologies of Wall Street investment bankers, illustrating how a precarious market system is produced through corporate restructuring and economic practices. Her ethnographic study captures the voices of stressed associates, overworked analysts, eager undergraduates, and seasoned directors, revealing a culture that recruits elite graduates as “the best and the brightest.” These bankers are socialized into a high-risk, high-reward environment, where job insecurity is viewed as a character-building experience. This culture of liquidity and compensation linked to aggressive deal-making enables them to reshape corporate America in their image. While their stated mission is to create shareholder value, Ho argues that their practices often lead to crises, exposing the complexities of Wall Street's culture that are frequently overshadowed by optimistic narratives of capitalist globalization.