Georg Franck’s ‘the economy of attention’: mental capitalism and the struggle for attention
Abstract
This article places Georg Franck’s ‘The Economy of Attention’ in the context of the broader discussions of ‘the attention economy’, and the increasing significance of attention in a knowledge society characterised by ever-increasing flows of information and data. I highlight the four core elements of Franck’s theory of the economy of attention: first, the importance of the fundamental human desire for attention; second, his emphasis on the parallels between attention and money, making it more literally a form of capital than is usually assumed; third, the self-reproducing character of attention capital, earning interest just as money does; fourth, the connections between the economy of attention and the expanding impetus towards everyone becoming a celebrity and a ‘brand’ within what he calls ‘mental capitalism’, with the field of academic labour a key example.
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Paying attention to an attention-rich public figure is a means of attracting attention to oneself.
“Paying attention to an attention-rich public figure, a celebrity, is in turn a means of attracting attention (to one-self).”
From The Second Wave of Attention Economics. Attention as a Universal Symbolic Currency on Social Media and beyond (2025) · cites this paper as van Krieken, 2019
There is a circular, self-reinforcing and self-reproducing dynamic in which attention generates more attention.
“'There is a circular, self-reinforcing and self-reproducing dynamic: attention generates more attention.”
From The Second Wave of Attention Economics. Attention as a Universal Symbolic Currency on Social Media and beyond (2025) · cites this paper as van Krieken, 2019
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- Authors
- van Krieken, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Sydney, Australia
- Venue
- Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-11-04
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-7
- ISSN
- 0004-8690 (ISSN-L)
- 1440-7833
- 1741-2978
- OpenAlex
- W2900020291
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Economy and Marxism
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Information Society and Technology Trends
- Keywords
- attention economy, celebrity, branding, academic work, knowledge society
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