Justice Is an Option: A Democratic Theory of Finance for the Twenty-First Century

Jul 6, 2026

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Justice Is an Option argues for rethinking finance through the lens of democratic justice in the twenty-first century. Drawing on debates around finance, market liquidity, financial power, and their political consequences, the work develops a framework connecting trauma and perceived injustice to the legitimacy of economic systems. It examines capitalism’s internal dynamics, asks whether justice can be treated as an “option,” and discusses how justice is funded. The book includes bibliographical references and an index.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages304

Reading Time12 h 46 min

Preface

Introduction

Finance and Marx

Market Liquidity and Financial Power

Trauma or Injustice

Is Justice an Option?

Justice as an Option

Can Capitalism Short Itself?

Funding Justice

Conclusion

JUSTICE IS AN OPTION CHICAGO STUDIES IN PRACTICES OF MEANING A series edited by Andreas Glaeser, William Mazzarella, William Sewell Jr., Kaushik Sunder Rajan, and Lisa Wedeen Published in collaboration with the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory [http://ccct.uchicago.edu](http://ccct.uchicago.edu) RECENT bOOkS IN THE SERIES Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment, and Mourning in Syria by Lisa Wedeen Deadline: Populism and the Press in Venezuela by Robert Samet Guerrilla Marketing: Counterinsurgency and Capitalism in Colombia by Alexander L. Fattal What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the Time of a Deadly Emotion by Thomas Dodman The Mana of Mass Society by William Mazzarella The Sins of the Fathers: Germany, Memory, Method by Jeffrey K. Olick The Politics of Dialogic Imagination: Power and Popular Culture in Early Modern Japan by Katsuya Hirano American Value: Migrants, Money, and Meaning in El Salvador and the United States by David Pedersen Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty, and the Rule of Law in Modern Egypt by Hussein Ali Agrama The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900–1200 CE by William M. Reddy The Moral Neoliberal: Welfare and Citizenship in Italy by Andrea Muehlebach JUSTICE ISAN OPTION A DEMOCRATIC THEORy OF FINANCE FOR THE TwENTy-FIRST CENTURy ROBERT MEISTER The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2021 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2021 Printed in the United States of America 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5 ISbN-13: 978-0-226-70288-9 (cloth) ISbN-13: 978-0-226-73448-4 (paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-226-73451-4 (e-book) DOI: [https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226734514.001.0001](https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226734514.001.0001) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Meister, Robert, 1947– author. Title: Justice is an option : a democratic theory of finance for the twenty-first century / Robert Meister. Other titles: Chicago studies in practices of meaning. Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2021. | Series: Chicago studies in practices of meaning | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020039759 | ISbN 9780226702889 (cloth) | ISbN 9780226734484 (paperback) | ISbN 9780226734514 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Finance, Public—United States. | Debt—Political aspects—United States. | Liquidity (Economics) | Social justice. | Marxian economics. Classification: LCC HJ257.3 .M45 2021 | DDC 332/.04150973—dc23 LC record available at [https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039759](https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039759) ♾ This paper meets the requirements ofANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper) . CONTENTS PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION 1 ONE: FINANCE AND MARx 15 TwO: MARkET LIqUIDITy AND FINANCIAL POwER 45 THREE: TRAUMA OR INJUSTICE 61 FOUR : IS JUSTICE AN OPTION? 82 FIvE: JUSTICE AS AN OPTION 109 SIx: CAN CAPITALISM SHORT ITSELF ? 137 SEvEN: FUNDING JUSTICE 162 CONCLUSION 190 AFTERwORD: SPRING 2 0 2 0 199 ACkNOwLEDGMENTS 203 NOTES 209 bIbLIOGRAPHy 257 INDEx 281 PREFACE Ten years after the Great Recession of 2007–9, it was common for opinion leaders to blame the rise of both left-and right-wing populism on the perceived injustice of the government bailout of Wall Street. As Bloomberg Businessweek reports: It’s clear Obama was foolish to think public sentiment could be negated or held at bay. Financial crises are every bit as much about politics as economics. How could they not be? . . . Wage

FAQs

What problem does the book focus on after the Great Recession?

It examines how the government bailout of Wall Street was widely perceived as unjust, fueling left- and right-wing populism and reshaping political dynamics afterward.

How does the book connect finance to political power?

It links market liquidity and financial power to broader struggles over legitimacy, judgment, and the perception of injustice in democratic societies.

What central question does the author raise about justice and finance?

The text explicitly asks whether justice is an option, and then advances an account of justice as an option in the twenty-first century’s political economy.

Jul 6, 2026

Upload by Miles