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Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Mark Fisher, Winchester: Zero Books, 2009
Abstract
Abstract Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? is a provocative polemical analysis of the narrowing of political horizons that has occurred over the past couple of decades and of the powerful ideological grip that capitalism holds on the collective, social psyche, destroying our capacity to imagine political alternatives. Fisher seeks to illuminate the major cultural and social effects of a post-Cold War politico-ideological condition in which (according to Žižek’s well-known observation) ‘it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism’. Building on this analysis, Fisher identifies some key tensions and contradictions in the ideological armour of contemporary capitalism and extrapolates from this some tentative strategic propositions for the anticapitalist Left. This review-article argues that, while Fisher’s book provides valuable conceptual and strategic resources for the Left, it is hamstrung by several weaknesses – not the least of these a tendency to make unconvincing, sweeping claims about the novelty and distinctness of what Fisher terms ‘capitalist realism’ and a tendency to present a caricature of current left-wing thinking.
... A kritika alapján a pszichés zavarok valójában nem individuális patológiák, hanem társadalmi problémák tünetei, azaz olyan diszkurzív terek, amelyekben a hatalom mikro-és makroszintje összeér (Fisher 2009;Kovai 2015). Ezért a kritika az egyéni tapasztalatot egy még hangsúlyosabb társadalmi reflexióval köti össze. ...
A tanulmány az embodiment-paradigmában rejlő lehetőségeket az anorexia nervosa értelmezése és kezelése szempontjából mutatja be, mivel abban a testnek, még pontosabban a megélt testnek kitüntetett szerep jut. A jelenleg mainstream pszicho-tudományos attitűd a pszichés problémákat elsődlegesen az agyban és az idegrendszerben lokalizálja, míg a megélt test háttérbe szorul. Az embodiment-perspektíva ezzel szemben a kritika eszközéül szolgálhat, amennyiben a test tapasztalatán keresztül közelít a különféle pszichés zavarokhoz. Az anorexia medikális értelmezése a testképzavart individuális problémaként értelmezi, míg a feminista kritika az individualizáló perspektívával szemben a kórkép kialakulása mögött álló társadalmi okokra összpontosít. Ebben többek között hangsúlyosak az ideális nőiséghez kapcsolódó társadalmi reprezentációk, az őket létrehozó kulturális praxisok, a személyes és társadalmi kontroll kérdése és a test szimbolikus jelentése. Ugyanakkor a női test mindkét paradigmában passzív, alárendelt szerephez jut. Az embodiment-attitűd a megélt tapasztalaton keresztül értelmezi az anorexia okait, ezzel nem egy külsődleges testértelmezést erőltet az azzal küzdőkre, hanem segít megerősíteni ágenciájukat. Az írás a különböző attitűdök bemutatásán túl említést tesz olyan lehetséges terápiás eljárásokról, amelyek sikerrel alkalmazzák az embodiment-paradigmát az anorexia kezelésében, ezzel hangsúlyozza, hogy a terápiában a pszicho-tudományok, a kritikai elméletek meglátásai és az embodiment-attitűd együttes és komplex alkalmazása a leghatékonyabb.
... There is little existing critical attention to Fisher's work in academic journals, with the most significant critiques found in blogs. Rooksby (2012), for example, argues that Fisher's approach to capitalist realism is so close to the work of Fredric Jameson (1992) that it is, in essence, simply a reformulation that adds little to the original. This critique of Fisher's work misses both its Spinozan and Ž ižekian elements alongside its commitment to political emancipation through collective well-being. ...
This brief piece looks at the work of Mark Fisher – especially his book Capitalist Realism (Zero Books, 2009a) and his blog K-Punk – and tries to show how his analysis of what has been called ‘the slow cancellation of the future’ might contribute something significant to the psycho-social project.
Critical scholars agree that contemporary globalised and industrialised food systems are in profound and deepening crises; and that these systems are generative of accelerating multiple crises in the earth's life systems. Why and how did we arrive at this point? This paper argues that, conceiving each individual human as one cell in the greater human body, we are afflicted by what John McMurtry termed 'the cancer stage of capitalism. ' This provocative framing is adopted here in response to growing calls by climate, earth and physical scientists not to 'mince words' in the description and analysis of humanity's current predicament, but rather 'tell it like it is. '
Methods: Proceeding from McMurtry's application of the seven defining medical properties of a 'cancer invasion [of] an individual organism' to the broader body politic and the earth's life system, this paper draws on literature from diverse disciplines to investigate the fundamental cause of food systems crises. The paper references several empirical studies and meta-reviews that indicate the hastening decline in the integrity of human and ecological health, with a particular focus on the grain-oilseed-livestock complex and the accompanying social and ecological impacts on the southern cone countries of South America.
Results: The cause of food system crises is to be found in the core logic of capital accumulation, the profit imperative, and the relentless and expanding processes of commodification and financialization. The key metric of 'economic growth' is problematised and discussed. An embryonic 'social immune response' is now observable, in the diverse practices of de-commodification, proposals for de-growth and commoning that together constitute an emerging 'food as a commons' movement.
Conclusion: As currently framed, the Food as Commons proposal lacks coherence, rigour and a viable strategy to move beyond the current crisis. Its transformative potential can be strengthened through a more explicitly political grounding based on appeals to and support of anti-and post-capitalist movements and initiatives.
Implications for policy makers • Commit to the full and universal implementation of the human right to adequate and culturally appropriate food. • Form multidisciplinary teams to develop coherent and feasible transition plans towards a post-growth and post-capitalist economy. • Ensure that such plans are based on clear commitments to the principles of optimising human well-being and ecological integrity. • Engage widely with stakeholders and community members to build understanding of the need for such plans and consensus around them.
Implications for the public Humanity is at a crossroads. The ways in which our societies and economies have developed over the past 150 years, and most especially the last 40 years, has brought us to the very precipice of ecological and societal collapse. The climate emergency and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are two of the most recent and most acute manifestations of this predicament. The contemporary globalised and industrialised food system is deeply implicated in the systemic crises we face. There is an urgent need for greater public engagement with and understanding of the systemic and interconnected nature of these issues and challenges, as well as much more discussion about alternative political economies that can help us navigate current and emerging crises.
Why does the spectre of May 68 still haunt French discourse? Alain Badiou on the country's longue duree sequences of restoration and revolt, and the place of Sarkozy's presidency within them. Lessons in political courage from Plato and Corneille, and a call to reassert the Manifesto's founding wager.
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Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
- Mark Fisher
Fisher, Mark 2009, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Winchester: Zero Books.
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- Fuller