Georg Franck's 'The Economy of Attention

Mental capitalism and the struggle for attention

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2399482
AutoresR Van Krieken (0000-0001-5165-6913, The University of Sydney, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume55
Fascículo1
Páginas3-7
Data de publicação2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1440-7833 • E-ISSN: 1741-2978
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1440783318812111
OpenAlexW2900020291
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas12

This article places Georg Franck's 'The Economy of Attention' in the context of the broader discussions of 'the attention economy', and the increasing significance of attention in a knowledge society characterised by ever-increasing flows of information and data. I highlight the four core elements of Franck's theory of the economy of attention: first, the importance of the fundamental human desire for attention; second, his emphasis on the parallels between attention and money, making it more literally a form of capital than is usually assumed; third, the self-reproducing character of attention capital, earning interest just as money does; fourth, the connections between the economy of attention and the expanding impetus towards everyone becoming a celebrity and a 'brand' within what he calls 'mental capitalism', with the field of academic labour a key example

Capital (architecture) · Capitalism · Context (archaeology) · Economics · Economy · Field (mathematics) · Neoclassical economics · Parallels · Political science · Sociology · Cinema and Media Studies · Digital Games and Media · History · Law · Mind wandering and attention