Frédéric Lordon

Frédéric Lordon
Born	1962 (age 58–59) France
Institution	EHESS, France

Frédéric Lordon (born 15 January 1962) is a French economist and philosopher,^[1] CNRS Director of Research at the Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique in Paris. He is an influential figure in France's Nuit debout movement.

Education[]

Lordon studied at the École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, and received his degree there in 1985. He graduated from the Institut Supérieur des Affaires in 1987.

Career[]

Lordon teaches at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris.

He has served since 2004 as a Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Work[]

Lordon's work is an attempt to integrate Spinoza's concepts, such as conatus, into the study of political economy. As a participant in the current crises of capitalism, he debates publicly in France, proposing ostensible solutions.

He is a member of "Economistes atterrés". ("Appalled Economists"), a group of economists formed in 2010 who reject mainstream economics' positions, such as the efficient-market hypothesis, etc.

An early observer of the subprime mortgage crisis, he proposed the implementation of a tax he nicknamed SLAM, for Shareholder Limited Authorized Margin, the effect of which would be to limit profits so that profit making ventures in the real economy are not determined "only by the interests of the stock exchange market."

Lordon played an instrumental role in the rise of the Nuit debout movement. He wrote a piece in the February 2016 issue of Le Monde diplomatique on François Ruffin's film, Merci patron!, describing the film as a clarion call for a potential uprising.^[2] This prompted Ruffin to organise a public meeting which led to the organisation of the public occupation of Paris's Place de la République on 31 March 2016.^[3] Lordon spoke at the 31 March protest, highlighting the goals of disparate protest movements.^[4] He never talked to national media about his role in the movement, explaining that he did not wish to be seen as the leader of a leaderless movement, and so by denying that he was the leader, and pointing out that the movement is in fact leaderless, he deftly positioned himself as the voiceless head of a silent movement.^[5]

Books[]

(in French)

• Les Quadratures de la politique économique ("The quadratures of political economy"), Paris, Albin Michel, 1997
• Fonds de pension, piège à cons. Mirage de la démocratie actionnariale ("Pension funds, a trap for fools. Mirage of shareholder democracy"), Paris, Liber/Raisons d'agir, 2000
• La Politique du capital ("The capitalist policy"), Paris, Odile Jacob, 2002
• Et la vertu sauvera le monde ("And virtue will save the world"), Paris, Liber/Raisons d'agir, 2003
• L'intérêt souverain — Essai d'anthropologie économique spinoziste ("The sovereign interest — Essay of spinozean anthropology"), Paris, La Découverte, 2006
• Spinoza et les sciences sociales. De l'économie des affects à la puissance de la multitude ("Spinoza and the social sciences. From the sentimental economy to the power of the multitudes"), In collaboration with Yves Citton. Paris, Éditions Amsterdam, 2008
• Jusqu'à quand ? Pour en finir avec les crises financières ("Until when? To put an end to financial crises"), Paris, Éditions Raisons d’agir, 2008
• Conflits et pouvoirs dans les institutions du capitalisme ("Conflicts and powers in the capitalist institutions"), Presses de la Fondation des Sciences Politiques, Paris, 2008
• La crise de trop – Reconstruction d'un monde failli ("The crisis of too much _ Reconstruction of a failed world"), Paris, Éditions Fayard, 2009
• Capitalisme, désir et servitude. Marx et Spinoza ("Capitalism, desire and servitude. Marx and Spinoza"), La Fabrique éditions, 2010
  • Translated into English by Gabriel Ash in 2014, entitled Willing Slaves of Capital
• D'un retournement l'autre. Comédie sérieuse sur la crise financière (""From one turn to another. Serious comedy on the financial crisis), Paris, Seuil, 2011
• L'intérêt souverain – Essai d'anthropologie économique ("The sovereign interest — Essay of economic anthropology"), Paris, La Découverte, 2011
• Imperium - Structures et affects des corps politique ("Imperium - Structures and affects of political bodies"),Paris,La Fabrique, 2015
• Les affects de la politique ("The Affects of politics"), Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2016
• La condition anarchique ("The anarchic condition"), Paris, Seuil, 2018
• Vivre sans ? : Institutions, police, travail, argent...("Live without it ? : Institutions, police, work, money..."), Paris, La Fabrique, 2019

References[]

External links[]

• "Presentation on the CNRS homepage". Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2012-01-31. (in French)
• La pompe à phynance, blog on the website of Le Monde Diplomatique where Lordon blogs (in French)