Thatcher’s no-alternative claim shifted from preference to ontological necessity

Evidence

We can quickly grasp the form that capitalist realism now takes by reflecting on the shift in the meaning of the famous Thatcher doctrine that “there is no alternative”. When Thatcher initially made this notorious claim, the emphasis was on preference: neoliberal capitalism was the best possible system; the alternatives were undesirable. Now, the claim carries an ontological weight — capitalism is not just the best possible system, it is the only possible system; alternatives are hazy, spectral, barely conceivable. Since 1989, capitalism’s success in routing its opponents has led to it coming close to achieving the ultimate goal of ideology — invisibility. In the global North at least, capitalism proposes itself as the only possible reality, and therefore it seldom “appears” as such at all. Atilio Boron argues that capitalism has been shifted to a “discreet position behind the political scene, rendered invisible as the structural foundation of contemporary society”, and cites Bertolt Brecht’s observation that “capitalism is a gentleman who doesn’t like to be called by his name”. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1481

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: This is the formal definition and mechanism behind the claim already extracted from ch41 that capitalism confines subjects to versions of past selves.
• DEEPTHINKING: The shift from preference to ontological weight in the no-alternative doctrine is dense and quietly transforms how one reads Thatcherism’s ideological residue.