Capitalist Realism
It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system - a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The book analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework. Using examples from politics, film (Children Of Men, Jason Bourne, Supernanny), fiction (Le Guin and Kafka), work and education, it argues that capitalist realism colours all areas of contemporary experience, is anything but realistic and asks how capitalism and its inconsistencies can be challenged. It is a sharp analysis of the post-ideological malaise that suggests that the economics and politics of free market neo-liberalism are givens rather than constructions.
Stats for nerds
41recommend
100mentions
77people
2015–2026years
51% recommend48% neutral1% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Our current society will certainly not survive. Read Mark Fisher’s capitalist realism. You’re right that all most works are “cooked.”
- Actually, I've seen the take that the previous poster has made too. The wikipedia page is pretty good IMO. Proof of a hypothetical future event is pretty hard to get, but here's the wiki rabbit hole (if you're anything like me you'll find this fascinating and spend the next couple hours clicking links - you're welcome!).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_holocaust#Likelihood_o...
Annie Jacobsen is awesome, her book about Area 51 was riveting, but I also cannot unsee "Capitalist Realism" and the idea that we keep picturing civilization-ending catastrophes because we don't want to go to work in the morning, and walking/biking everywhere and living in a small community is amazingly appealing to us at a base level. We yearn for the lifestyle of the apocalypse survivor, but none of us want to go through the apocalypse. Generally, I think we kind of say, "oh, it'll be the end of the world" because most of us (myself included) lack the imagination to really look beyond linear extrapolations of the status quo most of the time.
- > I feel that generative AI is the culmination of Baudrillard and Mark Fisher's thesis.
To expand: I strongly recommend Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism book for a critical read of everything that's wrong with modern capitalism, and how any alternative, however radical it might be, will likely end up become incorporated, and digested, and regurgitated by corporate entities for profit. GenAI is the avatar of this entire process.
- Give Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher a quick read if you get the chance. I get the sense you'll resonate with it.
- I assume that capitalism is viral enough that no alternative can be realistically by established on a global scale.
Ignoring wealth differences is another instance of dreaming of a magical world where greed has disappeared.
A good read is Mark Fisher’s book Capitalist Realism
- You might like Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher
Related
K-punk
2 recommend · 3
Platform Capitalism
4 recommend · 10
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
11 recommend · 23
Utopia for Realists
14 recommend · 28
Capital
31 recommend · 132
Capitalism
4 recommend · 10
A Brief History of Neoliberalism
5 recommend · 8
