Policy Press

Dealing in Uncertainty

Insurance in the Age of Finance

By Arjen van der Heide

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

208 pages

ISBN

978-1529221350

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

208 pages

ISBN

978-1529221367

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Apr 28, 2023

Page count

208 pages

ISBN

978-1529221367

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Dealing in Uncertainty

Insurance is an important – if still poorly understood – mechanism for dealing with a broad variety of risks associated with modern life.

This book conducts an in-depth examination of one of the largest and longest-established private insurance industries in Europe: British life insurance. In doing so, it draws on over 40 oral history interviews to trace how the sector has changed since the 1970s, a period characterized by rampant financialization and neoliberalization.

Combining insights from science and technology studies and economic sociology, this is an unprecedented study of the evolution of insurance practices and an invaluable contribution to our understanding of financial capitalism.

"Dealing in Uncertainty makes a major contribution to the history and sociology of insurance. Van der Heide masterfully explains the financialization of the British life insurance industry and the concurrent transformation of the actuarial profession as a process that replaced calculation and expertise with models and markets." Tom Baker, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Arjen van der Heide is Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research. He previously obtained his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.

Chapter 1: Life Insurance in the Age of Finance

Chapter 2: Financialization, Quantification and Evaluation

Chapter 3: Shifting Boundaries between Insurance and Finance

Chapter 4: Actuaries Going on a Random Walk

Chapter 5: ‘Authors of Their Own Misfortune’

Chapter 6: ‘Taking Account of What the Market Has To Say’

Chapter 7: Managing Risk in Insurance

Chapter 8: The Long Road to Solvency II (and Back Again?)

Chapter 9: De-Risking Pensions, Managing Assets

Chapter 10: Financial Evaluation and the Future of Insurance Society

References