Futures on FIRE: The Moral Politics of Hard Economic Sensibilities

Monday, December 9 | 10am | Hybrid format in-person in AQ 5067 and on Zoom

Abstract:
In this thesis, I explore how subjects of the Financial Independence and Retiring Early (FIRE) self-help movement talk about hard work and financial freedom. Drawing from theories of affect, power, and subjectivity, I illustrate how the present is governed by an affective state of anticipating uncertain futures. I use “hard economic sensibilities” to conceptualize how this anticipation forms a desire to become unaffected by crisis which compels FIRE subjects to steel themselves and take up the cold emotionality of late capitalism. Through discourse analysis of the r/FIRE subreddit, I use “hard moral politics” to understand the colonial, racial, and gendered logics of dependency and becoming deserving of financial freedom under neoliberal governance. I theorize that making sense of late capitalist life is embodied as an urgent and virtuous desire to harden the self through hard work that works to maintain unfeeling relations of power and conceal cold structures of domination.

Examining Committee:
Chair: Dr. Lindsey Freeman, Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
Supervisor: Dr. Kyle Willmott, Assistant Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
Committee Member: Dr. Amanda Watson, Assistant Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
External Examiner: Dr. Coleman Nye, Associate Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, SFU

Please note that the defence will be held in a Hybrid format in-person in AQ 5067 and on Zoom. If you'd like to be added to the Zoom attendee list, please contact gradsecsa@sfu.ca no later than 4PM on Friday December 6th, 2024.

Note from Sarah:
Please wear a mask. Do not attend if you are sick. N95s and an air purifier will be provided. You are encouraged to bring physical resources, pamphlets, zines, and calls to action. Light refreshments will be provided. Please arrive 15-20 minutes early. Wear blue if you can.