Land of the free (markets)
US banks’ strategic rhetoric in response to the financial crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8131990 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katherine Copas (0009-0003-6685-4500, Northwestern University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/08969205261417164 |
| OpenAlex | W7134898364 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 81 |
Despite their role in triggering economic crises, banks remain powerful, influential, and profitable. This study examines how large US banks responded to reputational threats following the 2008 financial crisis. Analyzing shareholder letters from 2000 to 2019, I find that while all banks initially followed traditional impression management tactics, large successful firms like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo shifted strategies during the crisis. They began to use patriotic rhetoric to defend the financial sector as a whole, and they attempted to link patriotism, democracy, and capitalism. The analysis shows how firms use cultural appeals to maintain legitimacy and navigate public backlash during periods of heightened regulatory and societal pressure. More importantly, the findings speak to the current US economic and political environment where we are witnessing tightening linkages between nationalism and capitalism
Backlash · Financial crisis · Financial sector · Impression management · Legitimacy · Nationalism · Politics · Rhetoric · Shareholder · Corporate Identity and Reputation · Management and Organizational Studies · Public Relations and Crisis Communication
When Wall Street Met Main Street
Unpacking the halo effect
Legal institutionalism
Impression Management in Organizations
Organizational Legitimacy
Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis
A Multi-Level Review of Impression Management Motives and Behaviors
Managing Legitimacy
Varieties of Sociological Field Theory
Wall Street Scandals
The Leverage of Protest
Imagined Futures
Nationalism in Settled Times
Assessing the Risks of Risk Assessments
Brief History of Neoliberalism
American Patriotism, National Identity, and Political Involvement
Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis
Myths of Nature
Economists and Societies
Culture in Action
The Iron Cage Revisited
Fintech as invasive infrastructure
The art of the shitty deal
Money, Moral Authority, and the Politics of Creditworthiness
From uncertainty toward risk
Caught between Frontstage and Backstage
Varieties of American Popular Nationalism
Operationalizing Legitimacy
What is neo-liberalism
Making sense of financialization
Morals and politics in the ideology of neo-liberalism
Financialization and the institutional foundations of the new capitalism
Neoliberal governance, evaluations, and the rise of win-win ideology in corporate responsibility discourse, 1960-2010
The financialization of the American economy
The Relevance of Organizational Sociology
Unpacking the dynamics of a contested practice
Governance and Urban Changes in the Financialized Post-crash Period
The Revenge of the Capitalist Class
The Cultural Logics of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
Liberal Democracy and National Security
Theory Construction in Qualitative Research
The Living Codebook
Moral Views of Market Society
Legitimacy as a Social Process
Network Forms of Organization
The Arc of Neoliberalism
Financialization of the Economy
Citizen-Consumers Wanted
Targeting Capital
Global Microstructures
The hijacking of a new corporate form? Benefit corporations and corporate personhood
Misrule of experts? The financial crisis as elite debacle
Sub-prime mortgage lending
Some States Stepping In
The Collective Interests of Large Corporations
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |