ABSTRACT

Large swaths of homo economicus americanus today confront chronic unemployment or under-employment in a period of tremendous offshoring of the production of goods and services, high consumer debt, static or declining disposable incomes, and shrinking governmental supports, even as large income gains and increasing wealth concentration are enjoyed by the rich and hyper-rich. In recent years, Dave Eggers has authored a number of post-postmodern novels that address the divergent trajectories of various contemporary American economic actors. This essay investigates one of these works, A Hologram for the King (2012), which details the long decline of the American manufacturing sector since the late seventies through globalisation, and the angst and material suffering of downward economic mobility that this has occasioned. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses, this essay examines Hologram’s depiction of middle-class precarity and its repudiation of American exceptionalism, as well as its anticipation of the Trump Administration’s global trade wars. Finally, in its conclusion, the essay takes up philosophical and political issues related to economic globalisation in contemporary American and global society.

摘要

在商品和服务生产大量外包、消费者债务高、可支配收入固定或下降以及政府支持减少的时期，尽管收入大幅增加和增加富人和超级富豪享受财富集中。近年来，戴夫·埃格斯（Dave Eggers）撰写了许多后现代小说，这些小说探讨了当代美国各种经济参与者的不同轨迹。这篇文章调查了其中一部作品，国王的全息图（2012 年），其中详细介绍了自 70 年代后期以来美国制造业因全球化而长期下滑，以及由此引发的经济下行流动性的焦虑和物质痛苦。通过定性和定量分析，本文考察了全息图对中产阶级不稳定的描述及其对美国例外论的否定，以及对特朗普政府全球贸易战的预期。最后，在结论中，本文探讨了当代美国和全球社会中与经济全球化有关的哲学和政治问题。