Capitalist realism : is there no alternative?

by Mark Fisher

Paper Book, 2009

Description

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, films, fiction, work and education, it argues that capitalist realism colours all areas of contemporary experience. But it will also show that, because of a number of inconsistencies and glitches internal to the capitalist reality program capitalism in fact is anything but realistic.

Status

Available

Call number

330.122

Genres

Politics, Government, Law and Public Policy

All Topics

Publication

Ropley, England ; Washington, DC : O Books, 2009.

User reviews

LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen

This book nails the lie of 'capitalist realism' and pretty conclusively shows that the neo-liberal experiment, as introduced by Regan and Thatcher, is now mortally wounded.

The book is written in a readable style that encourages the average reader to get a deeper understanding of the underlying

theory at the heart of government within most of the Western world but, as with so many of these books, it does fall down when it comes to seeing the way out of the maze and a return, or indeed an introduction to, a sane society.

Whilst some form of left leaning culture is the only way to an equable society, there is no suggestion as to how this may be accomplished without creating a dogmatic state control as per the Soviet experiment and, worse still, there is no suggestion as to how we move the man in the street from reluctant acceptance that austerity is a necessary evil and that the poor are somehow dragging them into penury, rather than the true state of things whereby the rich are getting richer at their expense.

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LibraryThing member qubex

I am a consumer and the product of pure ‘2.0’ capitalism to the same extent as anybody.

I admit to finding the language somewhat abstruse and opaque in some places but the point is both powerful and well-argued: bussiness-centric thinking has reached an apogee whereby not only is it the

predominant and ascendant paradigm of thought, but it it has to a very real extent eclipsed all others. It has become totally ordinary to think of public services and artistic endeavour in terms of revenue and cost without even pausing, for one moment, to consider whether this is the correct framing of these issues. (Sometimes it clearly is, other times it might or might not be - but the fact is that the framework within which we evaluate these issues needs to be carefully considered.)

I was also impressed by how the author argued his case that capitalism subsumes critiques of itself and renders them as a basis for saleable products and services: perhaps nowhere as effectively as the amoebic passive blobs in the film Wall-E that the author mentions.

I recommend this. It’s an unusually valid insight. One might not agree with it, but one ought to be exposed to the argument.

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LibraryThing member sunil_kumar

A deeply depressing book about a system that all of us are born into and that slowly seeps into every facet of our lives, even the one's we think are free from its influence. Mark Fisher is good at pointing out the stupidity of the system and at highlighting how it effects the contemporary culture

with some interesting pop examples. But Fisher could only be suggesting that any of us can do anything about it in jest.

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LibraryThing member sunil_kumar

with some interesting pop examples. But Fisher could only be suggesting that any of us can do anything about it in jest.

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LibraryThing member kencf0618

"...but what of Really Existing Capitalism"? What indeed. The trenchant thin edge of the wedge.

LibraryThing member TegarSault

Interesting set of articles on leftist perspectives of culture. Academic discussions that I feel I have not read enough to appreciate fully, but still approachable enough to get the gist.

LibraryThing member jakecasella

Super-rad, everybody read this please.

LibraryThing member rottweilersmile

i liked the marks about the media. i don't think i got all of it nor agree with all of it, a bit too "writing about nothing" for my taste

LibraryThing member datrappert

Yes. There are a lot of bad things about capitalism. Yes. Proponents of capitalism have managed to change the basis of the argument, so that most people think there is no alternative. Yes. Social ills previously blamed on society, i.e., capitalist society, are now blamed on individuals. But if you

want to try to change these things, you DO NOT do it in a book that, while it is far from the worst offender, is so full of academic jargon and words that you have never seen and will likely never see again, that it is clear the author is just preaching to the converted, which is basically a waste of time. I came across references to this book in a couple of other works, and since it was available as an ebook on Hoopla, and because it was short, decided to read it. I don't regret it, but it could have been so much more effective. (It also suffers for an American reader, because it is so British.)

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LibraryThing member dcunning11235

A lot of questionable logic and the typical blindness brought on by Marxist thinking, but also many solid observations and some interesting points. 3.5/5.

LibraryThing member A.Godhelm

With the amount of references to Zizek, from concepts to ideas, you're left wondering why you didn't read a Zizek book instead of this, since it's seemingly the only person who the writer thinks knows what's going on. Got a good chuckle of the criticism of commodification of culture and disparaging

of capitalist influence from a guy who drops media references constantly. Just like Zizek tries to justify being captured by the boobtube as if he's doing important research. The book also forgets to answer the question it poses.

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