Kieran Heinemann | University of Cambridge (original) (raw)
Papers by Kieran Heinemann
The idea of enfranchising »ordinary people« in the economy via the stock market has a long politi... more The idea of enfranchising »ordinary people« in the economy via the stock market has a long political, social and cultural trajectory in 20th-century Britain. Inter-war financial observers expected the »democratisation of investment« to radically change the social and economic outlook of Britain. Likewise, commentators of the 1950s and 1960s envisaged the coming of an »age of the small investor«, and in the 1980s, the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher claimed that their »popular capitalism« had turned Britain into a »share-owning democracy«. This article explores how the idea of a society of small shareholders and petty capitalists came to be seen as politically, socially and economically desirable in 20th-century Britain.
In his article, Kieran Heinemann reviews the dispersion of share ownership during the course of t... more In his article, Kieran Heinemann reviews the dispersion of share ownership during the course of the privatisations of state-owned enterprises in Great Britain during the Thatcher era. The author reveals contradictions between the intentions of the popular capitalism promoted by the Conservative Prime Minister and the unintended consequences of her policies for the financial markets. He sketches the changes for the stock exchange which resulted from the politics of privatisation and deregulation and describes the rise of new actors such as the young upwardly mobile professionals or Yuppies. Heinemann especially examines how the dynamics of stock trading were explained to a wider audience. He turns his attention to a particularly popular understanding of stocks and shares, which was already circulating in financial journalism as well as in the respective advice literature. The position of the small investor became increasingly precarious in globalised and deregulated financial markets. Nevertheless the stock exchange continued to appear alluring and attractive for the masses especially since it promised similar thrills of risk and reward as gambling.
Wer von der Eisernen Lady spricht, denkt zumeist an das unnachgiebige Auftreten Margaret Thatchers auf der Bühne der internationalen Politik, an ihre mit harten Bandagen geführten Auseinandersetzungen mit den Gewerkschaften und an ihre Wirtschaftspolitik, die im Zeichen von Privatisierung und Deregulierung dem Neo-Liberalismus zum Durchbruch verhalf. Kieran Heinemann spürt den widersprüchlichen Motiven und den nicht intendierten Folgen des popular capitalism nach, er skizziert die Veränderungen, denen die Börse in den 1980er Jahren unterworfen war, und widmet sich ausführlich einer häufig vergessenen Gruppe von Akteuren im Börsengeschehen, die gleichwohl eine wichtige Zielgruppe der Politik war: die Kleinanleger.
Rezension zu: Robert Gerwarth, Reinhard Heydrich: Biographie, München 2011, in: 360 – das studentische Journal für Politik und Gesellschaft 8, 1 (2013), S. 98-100
Rezension zu: E. H. H. Green, Thatcher London, 2010, in: 360 – das studentische Journal für Politik und Gesellschaft 7, 1 (2012), S. 82-83
The idea of enfranchising »ordinary people« in the economy via the stock market has a long politi... more The idea of enfranchising »ordinary people« in the economy via the stock market has a long political, social and cultural trajectory in 20th-century Britain. Inter-war financial observers expected the »democratisation of investment« to radically change the social and economic outlook of Britain. Likewise, commentators of the 1950s and 1960s envisaged the coming of an »age of the small investor«, and in the 1980s, the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher claimed that their »popular capitalism« had turned Britain into a »share-owning democracy«. This article explores how the idea of a society of small shareholders and petty capitalists came to be seen as politically, socially and economically desirable in 20th-century Britain.
In his article, Kieran Heinemann reviews the dispersion of share ownership during the course of t... more In his article, Kieran Heinemann reviews the dispersion of share ownership during the course of the privatisations of state-owned enterprises in Great Britain during the Thatcher era. The author reveals contradictions between the intentions of the popular capitalism promoted by the Conservative Prime Minister and the unintended consequences of her policies for the financial markets. He sketches the changes for the stock exchange which resulted from the politics of privatisation and deregulation and describes the rise of new actors such as the young upwardly mobile professionals or Yuppies. Heinemann especially examines how the dynamics of stock trading were explained to a wider audience. He turns his attention to a particularly popular understanding of stocks and shares, which was already circulating in financial journalism as well as in the respective advice literature. The position of the small investor became increasingly precarious in globalised and deregulated financial markets. Nevertheless the stock exchange continued to appear alluring and attractive for the masses especially since it promised similar thrills of risk and reward as gambling.
Wer von der Eisernen Lady spricht, denkt zumeist an das unnachgiebige Auftreten Margaret Thatchers auf der Bühne der internationalen Politik, an ihre mit harten Bandagen geführten Auseinandersetzungen mit den Gewerkschaften und an ihre Wirtschaftspolitik, die im Zeichen von Privatisierung und Deregulierung dem Neo-Liberalismus zum Durchbruch verhalf. Kieran Heinemann spürt den widersprüchlichen Motiven und den nicht intendierten Folgen des popular capitalism nach, er skizziert die Veränderungen, denen die Börse in den 1980er Jahren unterworfen war, und widmet sich ausführlich einer häufig vergessenen Gruppe von Akteuren im Börsengeschehen, die gleichwohl eine wichtige Zielgruppe der Politik war: die Kleinanleger.
Rezension zu: Robert Gerwarth, Reinhard Heydrich: Biographie, München 2011, in: 360 – das studentische Journal für Politik und Gesellschaft 8, 1 (2013), S. 98-100
Rezension zu: E. H. H. Green, Thatcher London, 2010, in: 360 – das studentische Journal für Politik und Gesellschaft 7, 1 (2012), S. 82-83