No. 2017/01: Cochrane, ‘Differentiating Diamonds: Transforming Knowledge and the Accumulation of De Beers’

Abstract In 1939, the De Beers diamond company faced a dire situation. The company’s accumulation had been dwindling for decades. The Great Depression not only pushed diamond sales to historic lows, it shifted American attitudes around consumption and thriftiness to the detriment of the luxury object. In this article, I bring together Liz McFall’s assertion […]

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No. 2016/02: Cochrane, ‘Why Diamonds and De Beers?, or The Need for Accumulation Studies’

Abstract I successfully defended my dissertation in December. This served as the introductory presentation for the defence. In it, I explain what I tried to do with the dissertation, the methods I used, and the larger project I hope it is initiating. Specifically, I suggest there is a need for accumulation studies as a field […]

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Why Diamonds and De Beers?, or The Need for Accumulation Studies

DT Cochrane Preface. I successfully defended my dissertation in December. This served as the introductory presentation for the defence. In it, I explain what I tried to do with the dissertation, the methods I used, and the larger project I hope it is initiating. Specifically, I suggest there is a need for accumulation studies as […]

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Cochrane, ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It? Diamonds and the Accumulation of De Beers, 1935-55’

Abstract What is accumulation? Visibly, accumulation is a quantitative process, demarcated in financial quantities. However, what is the meaning of those quantities? This question has been the subject of great debate within political economic thought. A new theory of accumulation, capital as power (CasP), argues that the financial quantities of accumulation express the distribution of […]

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