A Crippling Sin: An Exploration of 'Greed' in Global News Magazine Discourse

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Abstract

Upon recognizing the growing “financialization” of everyday life, my project examines the manner in which “greed” is constructed the in two of the most widely circulated international news magazines Time and Newsweek from 1980-2013 (Martin, 2002). Within a marketplace that is theoretically defined by self-interest, rational choice, efficiency and optimization, I contend that the ethical tenor mainly resonant during the mediation of historical financial crises has become an increasingly influential cultural force in the lived realities of modern, hyper-“financialized” global subjects (Erreygers & Jacobs, 2005; Martin, 2002). In reviewing the context and usage of the term over the past three decades a frame emerges—greed has been operationalized for a marginal group of “bad apples” while the underlying root of global capitalism and the promise of neoliberalism have unquestionably remained sound (Meehan, 2005). However, the cynicism that has emerged by the most recent version of greed-focused reporting post-2008 global economic crisis may have finally breached public trust in a financial system that is supposed to protect their security.