You really nailed it with this one. Very nicely done. I have been thinking so much of this idea as the final victory of privatization. Thanks for making it so clear.
Thank you for your kind words, so glad you enjoyed it. Reading works such as your own and other writers on here has helped me make sense of my own observations and opinions. I've been trying to articulate it for a while, and it has finally come out in a coherent way haha! Thanks again!
So great when that inspiration hits and it becomes not just a jumble of thoughts. This piece has crystallised a few things for me as well. I might be ready to hammer out something. Thanks again.
You've made my night! I feel like I'm settling in to this form of writing now, being a fiction writer primarily. Looking forward to reading your next piece!
On the other side, I’m an academic so I often feel paralyzed when I can’t write things that are fully sourced and referenced. But there’s a power to the flow of consciousness that isn’t broken up by formal citation. That’s the power of fiction for me and I’ve been trying to find a balance.
Definitely relate. I've found myself writing these pieces in the same mindset as when I'm writing prose, and though the differences are rather subtle, they are difficult to attune to.
Defintely agree Ryan. Articulates what I have been trying to untangle about my deep loathing of modern celebrity, the manosphere scoring systems, and so much else. My revulsion for the current recruitment norms etc. I refuse to align with 'product' and have always had a deep mistrust of anyone/thing who does not instinctively see and feel the difference between biological beings and 'products'.
Let me play devil's advocate. It seemed to me that the parasitism metaphor imposed itself and consumed the content. If capitalism is a parasite, then what must we do? Take a pill against it? Thinking of it as a parasite creates an image of something external, exclusively pernicious and negative. However, capitalism is not external; it is deep within us ourselves. This text is published on a platform, embedded within its algorithms, within the structures of accumulation and circulation of symbolic capital. The difficulty of capitalist realism (Fisher) lies in the impossibility of imagining life without or after capitalism. Marx used the Christian image of Paradise for his classless society, but today there are no similarly attractive templates.
Capitalism played a huge role in emancipation when it destroyed tradition and religion. Moreover, it was precisely capitalism that emancipated desire – this holds true both for industrial design and for previously marginal life strategies. It is no less important to think of capitalism not only negatively but also positively – what does it produce? What does it create? Wherein lies its appeal?
Over recent decades, many authors have attempted to understand why criticism of capitalism ceased to function (The New Spirit of Capitalism being one of the finest examples). And indeed, capitalism has absorbed its own criticism, finding within it new resources for generating value. I am profoundly struck by how Hollywood studios have co-opted the critique of capitalism – the Fallout or Squid Game sell superbly. Capitalism is unsustainable? Of course, Marx himself wrote that it continuously revolutionizes itself. Capitalism is the very embodiment of change; it is a system advocating permanent revolution. And it requires crises to find new sources of growth.
In short, the parasitism metaphor is good for polemics, but no more. Abstract capitalism itself, it resembles abstract authoritarianism or abstract cancer – it confuses rather than clarifies. The question is which concrete practices strengthen it, and which weaken it. Which points of leverage can be utilized and how. And above all, what attractive alternative can be counterposed to the lure of profitability?
There's a good overriding point in here but some of it I'm not sure I agree with. Yes, there have been positives, which even Marx himself acknowledged. It is also worth noting that Marx saw capitalism as a necessary stage on the path to a socialist society. This is an important aspect of Marxist thought that informs my work. But this positive is very much outdated. In short, capitalism has very much overstayed its welcome, and exhausted any use it had. As we stand today, in context of climate change, capitalism is literally eating the world alive. The obsession with growth, consumption, and disregard for waste is all contributing to this catastrophic phenomena. And though you highlight a common view of capitalism as being able to adapt, to revolutionise itself, that belies this stable, innovative view of capitalism, and actually points to an inherent flaw. Bear in mind, every economic collapse, and at every point in which capitalism exceeds its limit, there is State intervention - a taxpayer funded rescue. Basically, this demonstrates the short life expiry capitalism actually has, and that its ability to revolutionise itself is actually a false one, engineered with the assistance of compliant politicians in cahoots with capitalist benefactors.
Another key piece of Marxist thought for me is Marx's theory of alienation, something that I think has evolved alongside capitalism. As Marx identified, this affliction is a natural consequence of capitalism, and has created an alienated society. I'm not sure, then, that capitalism can be seen as an emancipatory force for humanity as a whole. From my understanding, the break away from tradition and religion (religion has not been destroyed, see this earlier piece of mine on Nietzsche's God is Dead quote - https://theexistentialreader.substack.com/p/is-god-really-dead) was more a product of the Enlightenment, and if we think about tradition and religion in the context of being upheld by patriarchy and other forms of social hierarchy, that we see that capitalism is very much linked in with these components of human society. To be fair, it could be argued that capitalism is not necessarily inherently conservative in this way, and that the reason for this simply in that it is patriarchy and conservative minds who have fully embraced capitalism over more radical, "progressive" ideas.
As for the parasite metaphor, the point was to conure up an image of capitalism as an exploitative system, a leech, that serves only to extract. Capitalism needs to feed in order to provide. It needs something to latch on to. Latched on for too long, capitalism weakens, it doesn't strengthen. It exhausts the supply and moves on to something else. And this is the crux, in a way, as we are currently persisting in exhausting areas already exhausted. We have surpassed the limit.
My main point to this piece, however, was in how capitalism, in the digital age, has amplified its interest in the human mind, or of elements of human beings, such as desire, that can be made profitable. Again, did capitalism emancipate desire? Or has is exploited our desires for profitable gains, seeking to exploit the same desires again and again?
Many alternatives are now an option. The most obvious one is the mass redistribution of wealth. Personally, I'd start at the very top, with one of the most dangerous men on the planet, in terms of his stupidity, his uselessness, his immorality, and his predatory nature of exploitation, and tax the living hell out of Elon Musk. But that is just my personal opinion, and one person's opinion shouldn't be taken as the only course of action. Any alternative will have to be a collective, internationalist, one. Though I suspect the redistribution of wealth will be a popular feature, with a focus on eradicating poverty (which could be done in an instant) and creating better living conditions for all.
I mean though, “communities have been lost” is a huge and global statement. As well, this article implies that people have no agency, no brain, and no consciousness of what’s happening. I have yet to hear about any system of functioning that humans go for not being flawed without organized checks on authority and laws that people obey. As for artists being products - don’t be so sure that we’re all being naively swept into marketing our asses off to make some cash in societies which find our work superfluous and child’s play next to say, a job as a plumber. The art industry plays into this, and has since art stopped having a serious and community-oriented purpose in for example, the sacred realm, where it was anonymous, and instead became associated with baubles for the rich. Performers are even more conscious of the way they’re expected to “put out” for getting a place on the stage. In other words, this is nothing new, and no one has gotten a lobotomy to follow along. What’s required is a different culture, but there are always going to be powerful people looking to hoard possessions and dehumanize everyone else so they can “WIN.” As for the current situation, unless people are physically shackled and living in a hole in the earth, they ABSOLUTELY have the power to wake up, organize, and change things. Things are only “inevitable” when you’re in a coma.
I think that loss of community is a major issue right now. Though I of course can't, and am not, speaking on a global level, community loss and shifts in sense of place are motivators of the current political climate in the UK.
Any implication of people having no agency is unintentional. People do have agency, and there is some awareness. But it is awareness that is part of the issue, as the understanding of social media, for example, as targeting the human being as the product is not universally recognised.
I don't think it's that all artists are willingly commodifying themselves, the point is that a lot of people are. So the concern is with the very existence of the phenomena, and the willing participation in the notion of a "personal brand". This is something that pollutes the why and how art is created and distributed.
Living in the US, the land where people move far away from their natal families allll the time, I see people building communities in all kinds of places and for all different reasons. Immigrants to this country, and US born “transplants” to other states, do this as a matter of course. Life happens off the screen for real, but many kinds of things push people into making themselves a “brand,” it’s just that they didn’t call it that before the internet and they couldn’t make such a quickly public “splash” before it either - but now, in a capitalist society where self-marketing tools are so easily available, everyone and their brother is giving it a go to see if they can catch fame and fortune. I can’t remember a time in America growing up here as a child in the ‘70s where the Almighty Dollar didn’t beckon to the average citizen. That includes artistic people. That doesn’t mean it ate everyone, and it still doesn’t mean that - with all the rags to riches and back to rags that people are witnessing with Influencer Culture and lives, and the enshittification of all the social media platforms with nothing but ad after ad tracking and interrupting people’s communications with each other, I think people here well understand by now that this is the same Almighty Dollar story in different packaging, and much more in our faces and personal lives than ever before. The younger generation, and certainly my own college age ones, are very savvy about that sort of smoke and mirrors scene, and skeptical if not scornful of it. So… not living in or being from the UK, I can’t speak for the impact of this self-branding take of current capitalism there, but here in this country, after this amount of time and with the Orange-Wanna-Be-Golden Beast and Co doing what they’re doing to our constitution, our court system, our legislation and the ideals that our constitution has enshrined - I can’t say that outside his cult, people are buying that money defines everything about us. And if they aren’t yet, they will after he thoroughly ruins this country and ensures he’s buried in a golden coffin as a god.
Working on it right now, just taking a little break. I wasn't aware of his work until it was pointed out to me and I'm blown away by how correct he was in his observations and his forecasts for the future. I'll be delving into his work for a while I think. If there's any in particular you think I should look at please let me know.
You could add the commodification of nature and the living world, to the extent that the fossil commodities take priority over the sustainability of life itself. I love your link with alienation, and I'd recommend all your subscribers to try and find Istvan Meszaros book on this, 50 years old but more relevant now than ever. Won the Deutscher prize.
Good shout, about the fossil fuels and the book! I've got a copy on my shelf, was integral to my understanding of alienation. I'll put it a post this afternoon with it added to my essential reading list.
Thanks Craig. Well explained. Feels like it's missing a 'so what' though. So what can we do about this? Who has answers? I feel withdrawing our labour/ attention /data/ finance from the exploitative platforms is a start. Beyond that perhaps a return to valuing our fellow beings and environment through embracing community? Hoping for clues and ideas from anyone here.
Fair point. I sometimes worry when talking or writing about politics of coming across as too preachy, so I try not to advocate for my personal utopian vision haha. But you're right, some clues and ideas are needed. Anything to raise awareness and come up with an alternative really. And I agree with you, we need to rebuild the sense of community that has been lost.
I think what you are admirably pointing out here are the second order effects of a recursive phenomenon that I have been calling the commodification of commodification. I can't say definitively when it started to really get going, but I'm going to call it sometime during the late 1980's.
Your "commodification of everything" is effectively a list of areas where commodification has become the rule. The commodification of commodification is the engine that has produced all the effects that you are describing and you touch on that implicitly without directly naming it in your penultimate paragraph where you identify the shift beyond the economic and into the ontological.
I'm going to disagree with your apparent premise that this is an inherent negative feature of "capitalism" which seems to me like a tail wagging the dog assumption. I think one could describe examples of small-scale, healthy, capitalist systems that don't feature the commodification of commodification. And in fact I think that most of the history of capitalism writ large proceeded perfectly well without evidencing this pathology.
The commodification of commodification is the erosion of value in human exchange. It's an illness of modern collective human character that prioritizes superficial facade over depth, meaning, and authenticity. In my view, it's a modern flavor of sloth. It AFFECTS capitalism just as it affects all avenues of human interchange, human thought and language, and collective human consensual reality construction.
Thank you, glad the piece resonated. I think a lot of people have the same feeling. I've had it gnawing at me for some time.
You really nailed it with this one. Very nicely done. I have been thinking so much of this idea as the final victory of privatization. Thanks for making it so clear.
Thank you for your kind words, so glad you enjoyed it. Reading works such as your own and other writers on here has helped me make sense of my own observations and opinions. I've been trying to articulate it for a while, and it has finally come out in a coherent way haha! Thanks again!
So great when that inspiration hits and it becomes not just a jumble of thoughts. This piece has crystallised a few things for me as well. I might be ready to hammer out something. Thanks again.
You've made my night! I feel like I'm settling in to this form of writing now, being a fiction writer primarily. Looking forward to reading your next piece!
On the other side, I’m an academic so I often feel paralyzed when I can’t write things that are fully sourced and referenced. But there’s a power to the flow of consciousness that isn’t broken up by formal citation. That’s the power of fiction for me and I’ve been trying to find a balance.
Definitely relate. I've found myself writing these pieces in the same mindset as when I'm writing prose, and though the differences are rather subtle, they are difficult to attune to.
It was Criste who said render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are Gods.
How simple is that?
Don’t sacrifice your humanity on the alter of materialism.
A thought provoking piece.
Thank you.
Thank you for that, glad you liked the piece
Defintely agree Ryan. Articulates what I have been trying to untangle about my deep loathing of modern celebrity, the manosphere scoring systems, and so much else. My revulsion for the current recruitment norms etc. I refuse to align with 'product' and have always had a deep mistrust of anyone/thing who does not instinctively see and feel the difference between biological beings and 'products'.
I agree - it was really nicely put together. Only neoliberals see it as a victory but it will prove to be a pyrrhic victory in so many ways…
Great read. Capitalism’s final trick was turning people into products.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
I'm really glad you shared this with me, it really encapsulates the various effects of late-stage capitalism on us!
Thank you, Caroline. Glad you enjoyed it, and glad that so many of us are writing on this issue!
A fine article with a a lot of insight written precisely. A lot of writers blather on and on, but you have made a profound point succinctly.
Thank you, Robert!
Likes are still free. Likes are everything!
Let me play devil's advocate. It seemed to me that the parasitism metaphor imposed itself and consumed the content. If capitalism is a parasite, then what must we do? Take a pill against it? Thinking of it as a parasite creates an image of something external, exclusively pernicious and negative. However, capitalism is not external; it is deep within us ourselves. This text is published on a platform, embedded within its algorithms, within the structures of accumulation and circulation of symbolic capital. The difficulty of capitalist realism (Fisher) lies in the impossibility of imagining life without or after capitalism. Marx used the Christian image of Paradise for his classless society, but today there are no similarly attractive templates.
Capitalism played a huge role in emancipation when it destroyed tradition and religion. Moreover, it was precisely capitalism that emancipated desire – this holds true both for industrial design and for previously marginal life strategies. It is no less important to think of capitalism not only negatively but also positively – what does it produce? What does it create? Wherein lies its appeal?
Over recent decades, many authors have attempted to understand why criticism of capitalism ceased to function (The New Spirit of Capitalism being one of the finest examples). And indeed, capitalism has absorbed its own criticism, finding within it new resources for generating value. I am profoundly struck by how Hollywood studios have co-opted the critique of capitalism – the Fallout or Squid Game sell superbly. Capitalism is unsustainable? Of course, Marx himself wrote that it continuously revolutionizes itself. Capitalism is the very embodiment of change; it is a system advocating permanent revolution. And it requires crises to find new sources of growth.
In short, the parasitism metaphor is good for polemics, but no more. Abstract capitalism itself, it resembles abstract authoritarianism or abstract cancer – it confuses rather than clarifies. The question is which concrete practices strengthen it, and which weaken it. Which points of leverage can be utilized and how. And above all, what attractive alternative can be counterposed to the lure of profitability?
There's a good overriding point in here but some of it I'm not sure I agree with. Yes, there have been positives, which even Marx himself acknowledged. It is also worth noting that Marx saw capitalism as a necessary stage on the path to a socialist society. This is an important aspect of Marxist thought that informs my work. But this positive is very much outdated. In short, capitalism has very much overstayed its welcome, and exhausted any use it had. As we stand today, in context of climate change, capitalism is literally eating the world alive. The obsession with growth, consumption, and disregard for waste is all contributing to this catastrophic phenomena. And though you highlight a common view of capitalism as being able to adapt, to revolutionise itself, that belies this stable, innovative view of capitalism, and actually points to an inherent flaw. Bear in mind, every economic collapse, and at every point in which capitalism exceeds its limit, there is State intervention - a taxpayer funded rescue. Basically, this demonstrates the short life expiry capitalism actually has, and that its ability to revolutionise itself is actually a false one, engineered with the assistance of compliant politicians in cahoots with capitalist benefactors.
Another key piece of Marxist thought for me is Marx's theory of alienation, something that I think has evolved alongside capitalism. As Marx identified, this affliction is a natural consequence of capitalism, and has created an alienated society. I'm not sure, then, that capitalism can be seen as an emancipatory force for humanity as a whole. From my understanding, the break away from tradition and religion (religion has not been destroyed, see this earlier piece of mine on Nietzsche's God is Dead quote - https://theexistentialreader.substack.com/p/is-god-really-dead) was more a product of the Enlightenment, and if we think about tradition and religion in the context of being upheld by patriarchy and other forms of social hierarchy, that we see that capitalism is very much linked in with these components of human society. To be fair, it could be argued that capitalism is not necessarily inherently conservative in this way, and that the reason for this simply in that it is patriarchy and conservative minds who have fully embraced capitalism over more radical, "progressive" ideas.
As for the parasite metaphor, the point was to conure up an image of capitalism as an exploitative system, a leech, that serves only to extract. Capitalism needs to feed in order to provide. It needs something to latch on to. Latched on for too long, capitalism weakens, it doesn't strengthen. It exhausts the supply and moves on to something else. And this is the crux, in a way, as we are currently persisting in exhausting areas already exhausted. We have surpassed the limit.
My main point to this piece, however, was in how capitalism, in the digital age, has amplified its interest in the human mind, or of elements of human beings, such as desire, that can be made profitable. Again, did capitalism emancipate desire? Or has is exploited our desires for profitable gains, seeking to exploit the same desires again and again?
Many alternatives are now an option. The most obvious one is the mass redistribution of wealth. Personally, I'd start at the very top, with one of the most dangerous men on the planet, in terms of his stupidity, his uselessness, his immorality, and his predatory nature of exploitation, and tax the living hell out of Elon Musk. But that is just my personal opinion, and one person's opinion shouldn't be taken as the only course of action. Any alternative will have to be a collective, internationalist, one. Though I suspect the redistribution of wealth will be a popular feature, with a focus on eradicating poverty (which could be done in an instant) and creating better living conditions for all.
I mean though, “communities have been lost” is a huge and global statement. As well, this article implies that people have no agency, no brain, and no consciousness of what’s happening. I have yet to hear about any system of functioning that humans go for not being flawed without organized checks on authority and laws that people obey. As for artists being products - don’t be so sure that we’re all being naively swept into marketing our asses off to make some cash in societies which find our work superfluous and child’s play next to say, a job as a plumber. The art industry plays into this, and has since art stopped having a serious and community-oriented purpose in for example, the sacred realm, where it was anonymous, and instead became associated with baubles for the rich. Performers are even more conscious of the way they’re expected to “put out” for getting a place on the stage. In other words, this is nothing new, and no one has gotten a lobotomy to follow along. What’s required is a different culture, but there are always going to be powerful people looking to hoard possessions and dehumanize everyone else so they can “WIN.” As for the current situation, unless people are physically shackled and living in a hole in the earth, they ABSOLUTELY have the power to wake up, organize, and change things. Things are only “inevitable” when you’re in a coma.
Thanks for your reply, lots to think about!
I think that loss of community is a major issue right now. Though I of course can't, and am not, speaking on a global level, community loss and shifts in sense of place are motivators of the current political climate in the UK.
Any implication of people having no agency is unintentional. People do have agency, and there is some awareness. But it is awareness that is part of the issue, as the understanding of social media, for example, as targeting the human being as the product is not universally recognised.
I don't think it's that all artists are willingly commodifying themselves, the point is that a lot of people are. So the concern is with the very existence of the phenomena, and the willing participation in the notion of a "personal brand". This is something that pollutes the why and how art is created and distributed.
Living in the US, the land where people move far away from their natal families allll the time, I see people building communities in all kinds of places and for all different reasons. Immigrants to this country, and US born “transplants” to other states, do this as a matter of course. Life happens off the screen for real, but many kinds of things push people into making themselves a “brand,” it’s just that they didn’t call it that before the internet and they couldn’t make such a quickly public “splash” before it either - but now, in a capitalist society where self-marketing tools are so easily available, everyone and their brother is giving it a go to see if they can catch fame and fortune. I can’t remember a time in America growing up here as a child in the ‘70s where the Almighty Dollar didn’t beckon to the average citizen. That includes artistic people. That doesn’t mean it ate everyone, and it still doesn’t mean that - with all the rags to riches and back to rags that people are witnessing with Influencer Culture and lives, and the enshittification of all the social media platforms with nothing but ad after ad tracking and interrupting people’s communications with each other, I think people here well understand by now that this is the same Almighty Dollar story in different packaging, and much more in our faces and personal lives than ever before. The younger generation, and certainly my own college age ones, are very savvy about that sort of smoke and mirrors scene, and skeptical if not scornful of it. So… not living in or being from the UK, I can’t speak for the impact of this self-branding take of current capitalism there, but here in this country, after this amount of time and with the Orange-Wanna-Be-Golden Beast and Co doing what they’re doing to our constitution, our court system, our legislation and the ideals that our constitution has enshrined - I can’t say that outside his cult, people are buying that money defines everything about us. And if they aren’t yet, they will after he thoroughly ruins this country and ensures he’s buried in a golden coffin as a god.
Haha, yeah hopefully the failure of Orange One and his minions works in the Left's favour in the long run!
A reference to Thomas Frank’s writings would have been appropriate…
Working on it right now, just taking a little break. I wasn't aware of his work until it was pointed out to me and I'm blown away by how correct he was in his observations and his forecasts for the future. I'll be delving into his work for a while I think. If there's any in particular you think I should look at please let me know.
You could add the commodification of nature and the living world, to the extent that the fossil commodities take priority over the sustainability of life itself. I love your link with alienation, and I'd recommend all your subscribers to try and find Istvan Meszaros book on this, 50 years old but more relevant now than ever. Won the Deutscher prize.
Good shout, about the fossil fuels and the book! I've got a copy on my shelf, was integral to my understanding of alienation. I'll put it a post this afternoon with it added to my essential reading list.
Thanks, Steve.
Thanks Craig. Well explained. Feels like it's missing a 'so what' though. So what can we do about this? Who has answers? I feel withdrawing our labour/ attention /data/ finance from the exploitative platforms is a start. Beyond that perhaps a return to valuing our fellow beings and environment through embracing community? Hoping for clues and ideas from anyone here.
Fair point. I sometimes worry when talking or writing about politics of coming across as too preachy, so I try not to advocate for my personal utopian vision haha. But you're right, some clues and ideas are needed. Anything to raise awareness and come up with an alternative really. And I agree with you, we need to rebuild the sense of community that has been lost.
In my theory, it’s a problem of not understanding the concept of “the sacred” which I define as “that which you would not sell for money.”
I think what you are admirably pointing out here are the second order effects of a recursive phenomenon that I have been calling the commodification of commodification. I can't say definitively when it started to really get going, but I'm going to call it sometime during the late 1980's.
Your "commodification of everything" is effectively a list of areas where commodification has become the rule. The commodification of commodification is the engine that has produced all the effects that you are describing and you touch on that implicitly without directly naming it in your penultimate paragraph where you identify the shift beyond the economic and into the ontological.
I'm going to disagree with your apparent premise that this is an inherent negative feature of "capitalism" which seems to me like a tail wagging the dog assumption. I think one could describe examples of small-scale, healthy, capitalist systems that don't feature the commodification of commodification. And in fact I think that most of the history of capitalism writ large proceeded perfectly well without evidencing this pathology.
The commodification of commodification is the erosion of value in human exchange. It's an illness of modern collective human character that prioritizes superficial facade over depth, meaning, and authenticity. In my view, it's a modern flavor of sloth. It AFFECTS capitalism just as it affects all avenues of human interchange, human thought and language, and collective human consensual reality construction.
This is the stupidest thing I have read today
😂😂 Thank you for the honest feedback. I'll try harder next time 🤜