Capitalist realism is the belief that capitalism is the only viable game in town
Evidence
These propositions belong to an implicit ideological framework we can call capitalist realism. On the basis of a series of assumptions — human beings are irredeemably self-interested, (social) Justice can never be achieved — capitalist realism projects a vision of what is “Possible”. … For Alain Badiou, the rise to dominance of this restricted sense of possibility must be regarded as a period of “Restoration”. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 410 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Watching Children of Men, we are inevitably reminded of the phrase attributed to Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. That slogan captures precisely what I mean by ‘capitalist realism’: the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it. … Neoliberals, the capitalist realists par excellence, have celebrated the destruction of public space but, contrary to their official hopes, there is no withering away of the state in Children of Men, only a stripping back of the state to its core military and police functions (I say ‘official’ hopes since neoliberalism surreptitiously relied on the state even while it has ideologically excoriated it. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 8 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Capitalist realism falls only to internal inconsistency, not moral critique — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 36; Capitalist realism makes alternatives to capitalism unthinkable — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 8; Capitalist realism is belief in capital’s invincibility, not belief in its merits — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2219 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Capitalist realism restricts the horizon of what is politically possible
#expands(0.93) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 410 - Capitalist realism makes alternatives to capitalism unthinkable
#expands(0.92) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 8 - Loathed-but-complied systems typify capitalist realism
#expands(0.80) - Capitalist realism is belief in capital’s invincibility, not belief in its merits
#expands(0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2219 - Neo-anarchism is an effect of, not a challenge to, capitalist realism
#expands(0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1735 - Realism requires access to any rising class, not specifically capitalism
#qualifies(0.75) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 405 - Capitalism’s naturalness and eternity are a hoax
#expands(0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 26 - Capitalist realism’s debunking pose masks its own myth of choice
#expands(0.74) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2454 - Capitalist realism reflects social decomposition, not just individual persuasion.
#expands(0.72) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1644