The allure of finance: Social impact investing and the challenges of assetization in financialized capitalism

Abstract

Scholarship in sociology and political economy is increasingly engaging with assetization: how objects are turned into return-bearing assets. Although assetization rests on power, it cannot be fully explained by it. This paper addresses this puzzle and argues that financial agency involves creating the social conditions for the exercise of financial power. To this end, the paper draws on an in-depth qualitative case study of social impact investing in Britain, where proponents sought to transform the funding of social welfare from nonrepayable grants to for-profit investments. To allure others to assetization, proponents developed a collective action frame to foster collective ignorance over the extractive nature of assetization. Although proponents held important sources of financial power, their success hinged on the credibility and salience of their discursive frame. Financial power thus has a noumenal basis, which is inherently fragile because it rests on deceit.