The consequences of the financial crisis may be uncertain, but are sure to reach deep into the body politic, civil society, welfare systems, and reform. This collection of essays by leading international sociologists and social scientists explores the likely outcomes and consequences

The crisis of global capitalism that has unfolded since 2008 is more than an economic crisis. It is structural and multidimensional. The sequence of events that have taken place in its aftermath show that we are entering a world that is very different from the social and economic conditions that characterized the rise of global, informational capitalism in the preceding three decades. The policies and strategies that intended to manage the crisis-with mixed results depending on thecountry-may usher in a distinctly different economic and institutional system, as the New Deal, the construction of the European Welfare State, and the Bretton Woods global financial architecture all gave rise to a new form of capitalism in the aftermath of the 1930s Depression, and World War II.
This volume examines the cultures and institutions at the root of the crisis, as well as the conflicts and debates that lead to a new social landscape, including the rise of alternative economic cultures expressed in the social movements occupying Wall Street. The book presents the results of a shared project of reflection by an interdisciplinary group of researchers from around the world. It contends that there is no quick fix to the current financial and political system. Life beyond the
crisis requires a transformation of the mindset that led to bankruptcy and despair, and to economies and societies based on an unsustainable model of speculative finance and political irresponsibility. The book explains why and explores the contours of the world emerging in the aftermath of the
crisis.

The discussion of the crisis of global capitalism offered in this book marks a breakthrough. The work ranges far more widely than the usual crop of purely economic analyses and rightly so. Anthony Giddens, Former Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science

Manuel Castells is University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California. He is also Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Planning, University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 24 years. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, of the Academia Europaea, of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics, and of the British Academy. His main books include the trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture (Blackwell, 1996-2003) and Communication Power (OUP, 2009). He was a founding member of the board of the European Research Council and is a member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. ; Joao Caraca obtained a D. Phil. in Nuclear Physics at the University of Oxford and the Agregacao in Physics at the Lisbon Faculty of Sciences. He is Director of the Science Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon an

Manuel Castells: Dr. mult. h.c. Manuel Castells, geboren 1942, ist Professor für Stadt- und Regionalplanung und Professor für Soziologie an der University of California, Berkeley, USA.