Dmitry Ivanov Глам Капитализм Glam-Capitalism Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, St. Petersburg 2008, 174 pages Glamour capitalism is a new phase in the new economy and replaces the know-how-intensive production of brands with the glamour-intensive production of trends. Value creation and consumer mobilisation of the "Big Five" - luxury, exoticism, eroticism, pink, blond - are promoted at all levels and structured by the "Hot Ten" comprising top lists, hit parades and bestseller lists. Only a clash between glamour capitalism and its opponents - computer hackers, anti-globalisation activists, brand pirates, who flout the laws of glamour (such as Pirate Bay for instance) – is going to bring in the next phase of capitalism in the 21st century. Dmitry Ivanov’s precise and entertaining analysis explains why capitalism is not over, despite the financial crisis. "The world of finance has pursued aesthetics," wrote Andreas Zielcke in the SZ (6.2.09) and reasons: "The financial system as the embodiment of the capitalistic Icarus collapses but, contrary to the Greek myth, this is not the death of it." Dmitry Ivanov is the Russian Jeremy Rifkin. Following his success with "The Virtualisation of Society" "Glam-Capitalism" again proves that he is not simply one of those sociologists courageous enough to propose an original theory of the present. He is also able to express his concept of society at the start of the 21st century in generally accessible terms and to make it comprehensible using everyday examples. His compact glamour theory makes it astoundingly clear how familiar tendencies all follow a universal, to some extent global, pattern in areas as diverse as economics, politics, the sciences, culture or fashion. The author demonstrates that the truth is told by the glossed lips of a blond and he translates this truth into a language which intellectuals are also able to understand.