Finance and sustainability: From ideology to utopia

This paper is based on the observation that there is a contradiction between the current demands for sustainability and the way the financial system works. Beginning with a discussion of the epistemological assumptions underlying financial theory, it seeks to show how it may be viewed as an Ideology for the financialization of economies and societies. We use the Ricoeurian notion of the cultural imagination to develop a counterpoint Utopia, which we call Finance As A Common. The reflexivity enabled by this Utopia reveals the mental structures in which financial actors are embedded. It also allows us to plot possible pathways for the reconstruction of the financial system, including local currencies, and the renewal of financial knowledge.