Is SF anti-capitalist?

[james_davis_nicoll]

Or at least deeply uninterested in it?

Sure, there's lots of Yay Free Marketism but how often do books focus on non-malevolent companies [1]? I think Flynn's do (but I can't read him) and so do wossname's books about the immortal time salvagers (but the Company in that does not seem all cuddles and happy songs around the campfire). There's Moon, but even her business adventure series seems to have turned into MilSF.

This may be related to the dearth of people who work for a living doing anything but stealing stuff or shooting people.


1: MARKET FORCES, for example, does focus on a particular company and its stuggle to prevail but I believe that if one looks very closely, some elements could be interpreted as being critical of modern capitalism.

Comments

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Mark Pierre Vorkosigan springs to mind, but that's not exactly rigorous economics.

There is no regorous economics in SF.

[james-angove.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Economic thinking in SF is dominated by people who ideology trumps evidence everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. Measured against those standards, Bujold has reached undreamt of heights or rigor.

Re: There is no regorous economics in SF.

[snowwy.livejournal.com]

I'd metaquote you, but noone in that community would get it. Thanks for saying it anyway. I nearly had a spittake at my monitor.

Re: There is no regorous economics in SF.

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

Logical conclusion: we need more economic sf.

(Motto: "We've exhausted every other genre. Why not?")

Re: There is no regorous economics in SF.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Logical conclusion: we need more economic sf.

Read Stross's Family Trade books.

Re: There is no regorous economics in SF.

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

Unlike some people, most of us are only able to read one of the Family Trade books. (I have, mind you. We still need more like them.)

(Well, probably I could find a way to read the second. But the housebreaking approach is a pretty elaborate thing to do when "wait six weeks" is the alternate solution.)

Re: There is no regorous economics in SF.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

There will be more of them. (Unless I keel over and die of overwork, #3 is due out next summer and my agent is now haggling over #4 and #5.)