Capitalism’s legitimacy now rests on circulating images of appearance

Evidence

Manuel Castells argued more than twenty years ago that meaning making in “informational capitalism” does not rely on what people do but on the basis of what they “are, or believe they are” (Castells 2009, 3). Today, such collective meaning making is conditioned by what people, and the collectivities they form, appear to be. In order to “believe” in the legitimacy of institutions, parties, and organizations (or in the promise of capitalism itself), we need images that represent them. Speculative communities are defined by overabundance and ultrafast circulation of such images, and so the role of imagination, and particularly of the speculative imagination, becomes even more important. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 136

Categorization

• XREF: Picks up the reader’s Castells/long thread about how social imagination, representation, and financialized sociality converge. — connects to: Capitalist subjection now appears natural rather than politically constructed; Capitalism’s rapacity depends on branding and PR sheathing rather than existing nakedly — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 96; Belief in institutions now depends on circulating images of them — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 136 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Belief in institutions now depends on circulating images of them #expands (0.85) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 136
• Capitalism’s rapacity depends on branding and PR sheathing rather than existing nakedly #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 96
• Capitalist subjection now appears natural rather than politically constructed #expands (0.78)
• Capitalism functions on performed belief rather than sincere conviction #corroborates (0.75) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1661
• Global capitalism depends on depicting abject others to justify its operation #exemplifies (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3422