Capitalist logic is a fragile political construction, not an inevitable order.

Evidence

The critical economist is not particularly concerned with judging the intentions of individual capitalists (whether they are greedy or selfless, whether they care about the environment and their workers, etc., is beside the point). Our perspective is not moralistic nor individualistic but political and systemic, a view that is both more powerful in terms of explanation and stronger in terms of practical action. We want to understand the role played by different classes in shaping a system of which they are both architects and prisoners. This does not mean embracing a crude determinism or absolving ourselves as passive elements in a system that operates on its own. On the contrary, we must consider ourselves as builders of a network of oppression that defines our economic system and avoid deluding ourselves: replacing Antonio Filosa, the CEO of Stellantis, with Shawn Fain, the head of the United Auto Workers, will not be enough to abolish exploitation as the basis of our society. Indeed, once we chose to organize the production and distribution of our material conditions through the competition of private producers that operate to increase profits and relate to one another via monetary transactions, the pressure to cut the costs of production took primacy over all else. … The particular logic that governs our economic system and the forces that compel and restrain our behaviors are not inevitable. The capital order, held with such reverence by so many neoclassical economists and buoyed by the apparent rigor of mathematics, is actually the result of fragile political balances. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 140

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets up the book’s core frame: the ‘invisible order’ is a political achievement made to look natural, not a law-like given.
• XREF: connects to: Capitalism’s apparent naturalness is a constructed hoax, not an inevitability. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 26; Capitalism’s governing order rests on fragile political balances, not inevitability. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 140; Markets are constructed artifacts requiring sustained political maintenance, not spontaneous phenomena. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 773 (+3 more)