12136 research outputs found
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»World’s most expensive free Game«: Privileg und Klasse in VRChat
No full textDer Zugang sowie das soziale Leben in Social VR Plattformen ist oft vorausset zungsreicher als Nutzerstimmen oder VR-Marketing suggerieren. Dieser Beitrag soll anhand von ethnografischem Datenmaterial und in Rückgriff auf die sozialtheore tische Aushandlung früherer Cyberspaces kritisch ausleuchten, inwiefern Privileg und Klasse in virtuellen Welten wirksam werden. VRChat gilt unter Veteranen als »World’s most expensive free Game«: Obgleich das Einloggen allen Interessierten offensteht, erfordert eine Teilhabe auf Augenhöhe in den Kern-Communities der Plattform beachtliche Menge an monetärem und intellektuellem Einsatz. Investments in VR-Headsets bestimmen etwa, welche soziale Welten und Events zugänglich werden und mit wem dort interagiert werden kann. Hardware ermöglicht oder verhindert somit soziale Situationen. Ähnlich wie im »Real Life« (RL) bilden sich Hierarchien, in denen Reichtum Aufwärtsmobilität garantiert. VRChats Nutzerschaft entstammt mehrheitlich privilegierten westlichen Verhältnissen und versammelt Enthusiasten und Tinkerer aus Sphären der digitalen Kreativindustrie, des Game Designs oder Programmierens. Anhand von Interview-Ausschnitten und Social Media Postings wird dieser Beitrag kritisch verfolgen, inwiefern sich die Geltungs macht und Wirklichkeitsverständnisse von dominanten Nutzertypen auf die Struktur der Plattform und das soziale Leben darin auswirken
French economists and the symbolic power of (post-)national scopes of capital: Taking sides in discourses of crises, 2008–2021
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On the Specifics of Contemporary Forms and Problems of Human–Machine Communication: Concluding Remarks
No full textCapital Markets in the Long Shadow of the Covid Pandemic - A Behavioral Analysis
No full textThis dissertation examines from a behavioral economics perspective how the Covid-19 pandemic affected capital markets. Of particular interest are behavioral economic factors such as herding, market panic, sentiments, media transmitted information, etc. The dissertation focuses on explicitly affected markets, namely the Oil Energy-Renewable Energy Nexus, Emerging Markets and New Digital Markets.The analysis is divided into two major parts. The first part, consisting of three published articles, lays the foundation. Here, the roles played by behavioral economic factors in the three identified market segments during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic are examined. The second part, consisting of two published articles, attempts to provide a deeper understanding of the market for new digital assets that boomed in the wake of the pandemic. In particular, a focus here is on the price and market dynamics of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Tokens.The overarching results show, that policy makers should aim to target specific markets individually in times of market upheavals, especially considering their individual affection level to behavioral dynamics. Furthermore, regarding the recently booming digital markets, stronger financial literacy must be disseminated throughout policy makers, investors, and private persons. Finally, these new token classes mainly serve as high-risk financial asset, but potentially provide a starting point for a functional token economy. Therefore, a well-balanced regulation should be implemented
The Ethical Standard-Setting Function of the Economic Organization – A Socio-legal Approach
No full textIn this thesis, the focus is on law - which can be described as a social organisation and thus a social construct. Taking a constructivist approach to the ideas of law and economic theory - more specifically, the theory of the firm - this thesis argues for a bottom-up approach to law-making via economic constitutionalism. Law is not the opposite of economic rationality, but there is an underlying constitutional structure. This paper focuses on how ethical standardisation in the form of global ethical juridification feeds into economic constitutionalism via the generic form of the organisation through its effective allocation of resources within the firm. Aspects of good corporate governance and transnational constitutional norms are linked. This work contributes to the Socio-Legal Studies discourse that understands constitutions not exclusively as a legal concept. By combining institutional economic approaches, legal theory and corporate governance, a soft concept of economic constitutionalism in the pluralistic structure of internationally conflicting partial constitutions is demonstrated. In the course of this paper, it will be shown that when we turn attention away from the state as the main source of law-making, we also turn away from political theory and the assumptions and concepts of balance of power, constitutional power, welfare state democracy, nation-state legislative monopoly, etc., and focus instead on the economic system, which fundamentally follows the inherent system logic, the language of price/non-price. The concept of the firm in the present and the emerging future is a normative network of contracts, social and societal relations that contribute to the democratisation of the understanding of law through legal pluralism, due to the emphasis on the norm-setting function of firms and communication channels for describing problems and solving of societal transnational challenges