Realism masks ideology as maturation via biology and economic constraint
Evidence
Realism always poses as maturation. Of course it is acceptable, understandable and inevitable to have silly youthful dreams, but there comes a time when one must put aside such childish things and face reality; and reality is always defined “biologically”, in terms of the imperatives of reproductive futurism, and “economically”, in terms of the “constraints” of the capitalist anti-market. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 996
Categorization
- SEED: This ‘realism as maturation’ mechanism is a strong lens for why political quiescence is sold as adulthood — angle for a piece on generational political resignation.
- XREF: Builds on ch28 ‘Capitalism’s defenders justify it as the least worst option rather than as ideal.’ — connects to: Realism is naturalized ideology, and today’s realistic was yesterday’s impossible — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 37; Ideology succeeds only when naturalized from value into fact — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 37; Ideology represents imaginary relations to real conditions of existence (+11 more)
Broader Connections
- Ideology represents imaginary relations to real conditions of existence
#expands(0.85) - Realism both critiques and reinforces the status quo’s exclusions
#expands(0.85) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 438 - Capitalist realism’s self-diagnosed realism mirrors the fatalism of depressive realism
#expands(0.85) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2217 - Jungle’s realism naturalises winner-take-all reality along with defensive anti-capitalism
#exemplifies(0.85) - Ideology’s imaginary relation functions to reproduce capitalist production relations
#expands(0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 195 - Ideology appears as manifest surface while its real foundations are hidden
#expands(0.80) - Capitalist realism’s required realism is an escalating series of depressive thresholds
#expands(0.80) - Systemic realism and active political commitment can coexist rather than exclude each other
#complicates(0.75) - Misreading organic-conjunctural relations yields either economism or ideologism errors
#complicates(0.75) - Empiricism that excludes man-made context becomes ideology
#contradicts(0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 454 - Cynical disbelief masks an unconscious ideological fantasy structuring reality
#corroborates(0.70) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 30 - Ideology in everyday life matters more than formalized class-specific ideology
#expands(0.70)