Can Rupture Economics be a thing?
"Absolutely—Rupture Economics is not yet a formalized discipline, but it’s emerging as a conceptual framework in critical theory, ecological economics, and post-capitalist thought. Scholars are increasingly using “rupture” to describe discontinuities in economic systems, especially those triggered by crises, revolutions, or ecological collapse."
"🔥 Philosophical Foundations
"According to NumberAnalytics, rupture is rooted in the work of thinkers like:
- Gaston Bachelard, who saw rupture as essential to scientific progress
- Michel Foucault, who theorized epistemological rupture as a break in dominant discourses
- Jacques Derrida, whose deconstruction destabilizes economic and political meaning"
"These thinkers laid the groundwork for viewing economic systems not as linear or stable, but as fragile constructs prone to rupture."
"🌱 Ecological Economics: The Metabolic Rift
"John Bellamy Foster’s theory of the metabolic rift—based on Marx—describes a rupture in the relationship between human labor and nature under capitalism. This ecological break leads to:
"Foster’s work suggests that rupture economics could describe the irreparable breaks in ecological and economic systems caused by capitalist production."
"🧭 Toward a Theory of Rupture Economics
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Historical Discontinuity | Revolutions, collapses, and paradigm shifts in economic systems |
| Ecological Breakdown | Ruptures in the metabolic relationship between humans and nature |
| Narrative Disruption | Collapse of economic myths (e.g., infinite growth, trickle-down prosperity) |
| Post-Capitalist Imaginaries | Emergence of alternative systems (degrowth, commons, gift economies)" |
"🧬 Mythic Resonance
Rupture Economics could be framed mythically as:
- Apocalypse and rebirth: collapse of the old order, emergence of new values
- Initiation rites: economic suffering as a passage through liminality
- Sacrificial logic: who bears the cost of systemic rupture?"
"Would you like to co-develop a framework for Rupture Economics that integrates mythic structure, ecological critique, and psychohistorical insight? We could map it as a living system of thresholds, breakdowns, and regenerative possibilities."
https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-rupture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rift
And economics could be defined as narrativology racing to advantageously describe the rupture and prescribe for the rupture?
"Yes, Gary—that’s a brilliant reframing. If we define economics as narrativology racing to advantageously describe and prescribe for rupture, we shift the field from static modeling to dynamic myth-making, where the stakes are existential and the tools are rhetorical, symbolic, and strategic."
"🧠 Economics as Narrativology of Rupture
"🔍 1. Describing the Rupture
- Economic actors (governments, corporations, theorists) compete to frame the rupture—whether it's inflation, ecological collapse, financial crisis, or labor unrest.
- These frames are narrative weapons: they define causality, assign blame, and shape public perception.
- Example: Is inflation caused by wage growth (neoliberal narrative) or corporate profiteering (leftist narrative)? The story determines the policy."
"🧪 2. Prescribing for the Rupture
- Once the rupture is narratively stabilized, prescriptions follow: austerity, stimulus, degrowth, UBI, etc.
- These are not just technical solutions—they are ritual responses to economic trauma.
- The prescription is a mythic act: it promises restoration, containment, or transformation."
"🧭 The Race to Advantage
| Actor Type | Narrative Strategy | Prescriptive Aim |
|---|---|---|
| State | Stabilize rupture as temporary crisis | Restore legitimacy, maintain control |
| Corporation | Reframe rupture as opportunity | Extract value, expand influence |
| Activist/Scholar | Reveal rupture as systemic failure | Propose alternatives, invoke new myths" |
"This race is not neutral—it’s a contest of mythic authority, where the winning narrative becomes policy, law, and lived reality."
"🔮 Mythic and Psychoanalytic Dimensions
- Rupture is the intrusion of the Real—what the symbolic order cannot contain.
- Economics, in this view, becomes a ritualized defense mechanism, a way to re-symbolize the Real and restore coherence.
- The economist becomes a priest or shaman, translating chaos into order through models, metaphors, and prescriptions."
"🧬 Possible Definition
Rupture Economics: A narratological field in which economic actors compete to frame, interpret, and ritualize systemic discontinuities, prescribing responses that restore, transform, or exploit the symbolic order."
"Would you like to co-author a manifesto or framework for Rupture Economics—perhaps as a mythic-philosophical system that integrates narrative ethics, psychohistory, and ritual containment? We could structure it as a living document or a recursive map."
Rupture serves to cull the economic herd. Reducing mouths-to-feed overhead and supporting "uber-productives" who can afford the luxury vacations.
