A made up term by some champaigne socialist who repackaged gramsci’s “cultural hegemony” for western college students.
I randomly decided to read some of these beginner marxism books a year or so ago, and mark fisher’s books were the absolute worst. It’s the focus and obsession of culture, art, over materialist analyses of history and imperialism, that’s so appealing to westerners.
I knew Jonás Ceika promoted that book so it should have been a red flag. I think it was one of the first socialist books I heard about via this post: Answer to Why do people believe in capitalism? by Connie Commie Honestly, I was convinced by the dude who was on revleft for dialectics that some “postmodernism” isn’t worthless, but there are much more important things to study than cultural critique.
It reminds me of original Proletkult, it often turns sus really fast, even happened under the nose of Lenin himself, not to mention westolefto.
Which is the first book that you are referring to?
Capitalist realism. It quotes zizek more than marx, if that gives you any indication.
I thought it was OK if you are already equipped to parse through the bullshit (e.g. reading it critically).
The best thing I would say about it is it is relatively concisely written for such a heady topic, and I appreciated the anecdotes regarding skyrocketing mental illness in British schools. It helped descramble my brain a little bit when I read it.
I recommend Gramsci a million times over, though. Fisher’s breakdown is a mere toe in the water in comparison.
No, I meant the book from Gramsci that you said that they plagiarised the idea from
Yep, prison notebooks.
It’s just the notebooks right? I recommend the current season of Marx madness, as that’s what they’re covering
Do you have a link to the show? I have never heard of Marx Madness before.
Thanks comrade 😊
Ugh
Capitalist realism is summed up in this phrase “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”
It is the belief that everything other than capitalism is impossible or idealistic. This is best exemplified in the United States and the West’s complete inability to do anything about Climate change. Most people have passively accepted that climate change and its ensuing destruction is inevitable and even those that go out to protest envision a capitalist solution (Elon Musk fixing it through business or something).
It is at its core state propaganda to fill the populace with hopelessness that any change is doomed to fail.
Me in a nutshell:
You want something better than capitalism, but for some reason you believe everything that the CIA tells you about Socialist States.
It is this feeling, this current state of being, where everything is…capitatalist. Everything in our global capitalist society is an exchange of values determent by the current socio-economic system, everything is being comodified and everything is becoming business to the point where people cant imagine essentials like housing or water being free and not profit driven only for the people who can afford it. It is this sense that capitalism is the only thing existent, that capitalism is the only true socio-economic system and that every alternative has been tried and failed. People cannot imagine a future beyond capitalism nor can they even think beyond capitalism because capitalism is the only viable system, it seems to have become the very fabric of our observable reality.
basically “embrace capitalist dystopia because this is the best system forever”
What was that quote from 1984 that libs like to parrot?
“Imagine a steel boot stepping on a face - forever”. Something along those lines. And as usual it was projection all along
What is the idea that you want the world to be communist, and try to do that within your power, but accept that the current system we live in is capitalist and try to deal with that to live your life - capitalist practicalism?
I mean, that’s just Marxism
A modernised explanation of the ideological aspects of the State and and social super structure. It is an attempt to simplify into modern and approachable language, with modern references, a core component of Marx’s analysis of society