Author: Joshua Klein
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Reviewer: Xanthe Vaughan Williams, director & co-founder, Fourth Day PR
Reputation Economics is less of a handbook than an ideological manifesto. In it, Joshua Klein outlines a utopian vision in which established world orders are swept aside by alternative trading systems using global communications networks. Ultimately, he suggests: “Decentralisation of resources through gift economies, barter and trade could destroy world hunger…and unemployment.”
The book races through a myriad of different approaches to commerce, from the Tiv people of West Africa, who deliberately exchange gifts of unequal value in order to ensure a continuing relationship, to the Arabic Hawala system of financial transfer and the emergence of “virtual” currencies such as Bitcoin.
Klein’s principle argument is that today’s financial giants are approaching the end of their reign. He asserts that with only 34.3 per cent of the world currently online, a shift of power is imminent as poorer communities, used to trading in currencies other than money, gain access to the internet. This, he believes, will enable them to recreate their “reputation” based systems of trading in a world market, evading and undermining traditional economic rules and regulations.
Klein is not a fan of marketers – particularly those who manipulate customer data in order to create ‘fake’ relationships for pure financial gain. He positions himself as the champion of the individual, aligning himself with the hackers who circumvent rules he sees as unreasonable or unjust, such as restrictive copyright. Whether or not you agree with him, Klein’s ideas are thought-provoking and many of his observations about the new power that social media and other technologies have bestowed on individuals, allowing them to hold global brands to account, should be taken seriously.
Reputation Economics is an interesting, if slightly meandering, read. Its fundamental question – whether access to new communication technologies will result in an end to world hunger or a descent into global chaos – is well worth thinking about.
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