Mark Fisher's Pessimism
Mark Fisher's work, specifically the literal meaning of the concept capitalist realism and what it signifiers in terms of the power and ultimate totality of capital,is a culmination of a critical tradition that has extensively examined the pervasive and invasive nature of capitalism. However, my aim is to move beyond Fisher's pessimism, acknowledging capitalism's strengths but also identifying its vulnerabilities and the potential for transformative change.
Conceptual Framework: Beyond Capitalist Realism
1. **Foundational Thinkers and Evolution of Capitalism**:
- **Michel Foucault**: Explored how neoliberalism shapes individual subjectivities and the notion of the neoliberal self.
- **Guy Debord**: Analyzed the society of the spectacle, where social life is dominated by images and commodification.
- **Jacques Derrida**: Examined deconstruction and the fluidity of meaning, highlighting the instability inherent in language and systems.
- **Mark Fisher**: Introduced capitalist realism, arguing that capitalism's pervasive influence makes it seem like the only viable system, a form of ideological closure.
2. **Capitalist Realism as a Culmination**:
- Fisher’s work represents the peak of recognizing capitalism’s ideological dominance and its capacity to infiltrate our minds, making alternatives seem impossible.
- This is seen as the final nail in the coffin, acknowledging capitalism’s pervasive power but also its psychological toll and the feeling of entrapment it induces.
3. **Moving Beyond Pessimism**:
- While Fisher’s perspective is essential, it focuses heavily on capitalism’s strengths and its ability to co-opt resistance.
- we must seek to shift the narrative towards identifying and exploiting the inherent weaknesses and contradictions within capitalism, in this case done so by looking at the non-human capital side, aka the parasite machine
The Parasite Machine: A Post-Capitalist Realism Framework
**1. Capital’s Inherent Contradictions**
- **Drive for Intensities**: Capital’s pursuit of high-intensity engagement can inadvertently promote critical consciousness. For example, social media’s algorithm-driven engagement is currently showing increasing popular support for movements like #FreePalestine, which challenge the capitalist class.
- **Unsustainable Growth**: Capital’s relentless pursuit of growth leads to environmental degradation and social inequalities that generate resistance and demand for systemic change.
**2. Capital’s Indifference to the Capitalist Class**
- **Technological Advancements**: Automation and AI, driven by capital, can displace traditional capitalist intermediaries, highlighting capital’s focus on efficiency over human control.
- **Corporate Co-optation**: Companies adopting social justice rhetoric for profit show how capital can support movements that indirectly threaten traditional power structures.
**3. Consciousness Raising and High-Intensity Engagements**
- **Media and Content**: Platforms like Netflix and YouTube support critical content because it attracts viewers, regardless of its anti-capitalist messaging. This fosters awareness and can lead to transformative thinking.
- **Educational Platforms**: Online courses on social justice and sustainability attract large audiences, promoting critical thinking and challenging capitalist norms.
**4. The Role of Technology and Digital Activism**
- **Social Media Movements**: Digital platforms enable rapid mobilization and dissemination of information, supporting movements that challenge the status quo and raise critical consciousness.
- **Ethical Consumerism**: The rise of ESG funds and sustainable brands demonstrates a shift in consumer preferences that challenges traditional capitalist practices.
Post-Capitalist Realism
- **Recognition of Capital’s Power**: Acknowledge the pervasive influence and adaptability of capitalism, as detailed by Fisher and postmodern thinkers.
- **Identification of Vulnerabilities**: Focus on how capital’s inherent contradictions and indifference to its intermediaries create opportunities for systemic change.
- **Optimistic Framework**: Propose a framework that leverages capital’s drive for high-intensity engagement to promote awareness, critical thinking, and resistance.
- **Transformative Potential**: Highlight the potential for technology, digital activism, and critical content to foster a post-capitalist consciousness that seeks to reimagine and transform societal structures.
In my opinion, Fisher's work, particularly his concept of capitalist realism, stands as the pinnacle of a certain kind of critical analysis that started with postmodern thinkers like Foucault, Debord, and Derrida. Fisher's articulation of capitalist realism—where he demonstrates how capitalism has so thoroughly permeated our consciousness that it seems impossible to imagine alternatives—is a critical and powerful conclusion to this line of thought. In my view, Fisher's work is unmatched in its critique of capitalism's pervasive influence and its ability to co-opt resistance.
Acknowledging Fisher's Contribution
- **Pinnacle of Pessimism**: Fisher's work stands as the most definitive and incisive critique of how capitalism infiltrates and dominates our minds, making alternatives seem unthinkable.
- **Final Word on Ideological Domination**: His analysis of capitalist realism captures the peak of understanding capitalism's ideological stranglehold.
Transitioning to a New Perspective
- **Recognizing Strengths, Identifying Weaknesses**: While Fisher focused on the strengths of capitalism, you aim to also highlight its weaknesses and contradictions.
- **Capital's Inherent Contradictions**: Emphasize how capital’s relentless pursuit of growth and high-intensity engagement can lead to awareness and resistance.
- **Optimistic Framework**: Propose a more hopeful and proactive approach that sees the potential for change within the very mechanisms of capitalism.
Core Concepts
**1. Capital’s Indifference to the Capitalist Class**
- **Technological Advancements**: Automation and AI show how capital prioritizes efficiency over human intermediaries, potentially undermining the capitalist class.
- **Corporate Co-optation**: Companies adopting social justice rhetoric for profit illustrate how capital can support movements that challenge traditional power structures.
**2. Consciousness Raising as a High-Intensity Engagement**
- **Social Media Movements**: Platforms promote high-engagement content, including movements like #FreePalestine, which challenge systemic injustices and raise critical consciousness.
- **Educational Content**: Online platforms offering courses on social justice attract large audiences, fostering critical thinking and resistance to capitalist norms.
**3. Exploiting Capital’s Contradictions**
- **Environmental and Social Issues**: Capital’s focus on short-term gains leads to environmental degradation and social inequalities, creating grounds for resistance and systemic change.
- **Ethical Consumerism**: The rise of ESG funds and sustainable brands challenges traditional capitalist practices and promotes more responsible business models.
Linking to Fisher's Work
- **Building on Capitalist Realism**: Acknowledge Fisher’s profound insights into the ideological dominance of capitalism.
- **Identifying New Paths**: Use Fisher’s framework as a launching point to explore how capital’s dynamics can be harnessed for transformative change.
- **Fostering Hope and Action**: Propose a new way of looking at capitalism that identifies opportunities for resistance and systemic transformation.
Intellectual Progression Leading to Capitalist Realism
capitalist realism, if you know what the concept means is the finale of what key post modern writers I have read were some of the first to do and then we all got addicted to that kind of writing but now we went and got the concept of capitalist realism all the ways capital enters the mind described by the post modern writers as they were beginning to happen, mark fisher comes along and looks as what has happened to us as a result of the things written about up to his point, to which he proclaims that they have resulted in a totalising mental condition know as capitalist realism, which is what the stuff capital does to us mentally, as written about by others, was the outcome that the capitalist class must have hoped for and been striving to achieve, hopefully the goal of achieving 100% capitalist realism in the brains of every member of the working class, but that hasn’t happened, or at least it doesn’t have to have been a permanent happening, it does not last forever, it must be kept up with high intensity, but other things are gaining higher intensities and messing up the totalling capitalist realist image on the ‘screen’
**1. Postmodern Foundations: Describing Capital's mental Infiltration**
- **Michel Foucault**: Analyzed how power operates through knowledge and institutions, particularly how neoliberalism shapes individual subjectivities and the neoliberal self. He explored the ways in which power permeates everyday life, conditioning how people think and behave.
- **Guy Debord**: In "The Society of the Spectacle," Debord described how social life is dominated by images and the commodification of experiences, highlighting the pervasive nature of consumer culture and its impact on consciousness.
- **Jacques Derrida**: Focused on deconstruction, showing how language and meaning are fluid and unstable. This instability is exploited by capital to perpetuate its ideologies and adapt to various critiques.
**2. The Evolution of Capital’s Influence**
- **Postmodern Writers**: Writers like Foucault, Debord, and Derrida laid the groundwork by analyzing how capital and neoliberal ideologies infiltrate our minds and everyday lives. They described the mechanisms of power, spectacle, and commodification that were beginning to shape society.
- **Cultural Critiques**: Subsequent cultural critics expanded on these ideas, examining how media, technology, and consumerism further entrenched capitalist ideologies.
Mark Fisher and the Concept of Capitalist Realism
- **Mark Fisher**: In "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" Fisher synthesized these insights into a powerful critique. He argued that capitalism has achieved a "totalizing mental condition," where it is difficult to even imagine an alternative to the capitalist system.
- **Totalizing Effect**: Fisher described how neoliberalism and capitalism have not only dominated economic and political life but have also colonized the mental space of individuals, making capitalism seem like the only viable system.
- **End Goal of Previous Critiques**: Fisher’s work can be seen as the culmination of the postmodern critique, showing that the infiltration of capital described by earlier writers has resulted in a pervasive and seemingly unshakeable mental condition known as capitalist realism.
Moving Beyond Capitalist Realism:
**1. Recognition of Fisher's Culmination**
- **Acknowledging the Achievement**: Fisher’s work is the pinnacle of understanding how deeply capitalism has infiltrated our minds, describing the mental and ideological domination of capitalism.
- **Finale of a Critical Tradition**: Fisher represents the endpoint of a critical tradition that has meticulously documented the ways in which capitalism conditions thought and behavior.
**2. Shifting the Focus: Exploiting Contradictions**
- **Identifying Vulnerabilities**: Move beyond simply documenting capitalism’s strengths and ideological dominance. Focus on the inherent contradictions and weaknesses within the system.
- **Capital’s Pursuit of Intensities**: Emphasize how capitalism’s drive for high-intensity engagement can foster awareness and resistance. For example, social media movements like #FreePalestine generate high engagement and raise critical consciousness, despite operating within a capitalist framework.
**3. Optimistic Framework: Potential for Change**
- **Technological Advancements**: Show how advancements in technology and digital platforms can support movements that challenge the capitalist class, even as they drive capital growth.
- **Consciousness Raising**: Highlight how high-engagement content on media platforms fosters critical thinking and awareness, creating opportunities for systemic change.
- **New Way of Looking at Capitalism**: Propose a perspective that acknowledges capitalism’s strengths but also leverages its contradictions to promote transformative change.
Conclusion: Beyond Pessimism
- **Finale of Critical Tradition**: Mark Fisher’s concept of capitalist realism is the culmination of a line of thought that began with postmodern writers describing the infiltration of capital into the mind.
- **New Perspective**: Move beyond Fisher’s pessimism by identifying the ways in which capital’s dynamics can be leveraged for transformative change.
- **Optimism and Action**: Adopt an optimistic framework that recognizes opportunities for raising critical consciousness and challenging the capitalist class, while acknowledging the continued growth of capital.
By building on Fisher’s work and recognizing it as the culmination of a critical tradition, this perspective can shift the focus towards identifying and exploiting the inherent contradictions within capitalism. This approach not only acknowledges the ideological dominance of capitalism but also explores the potential for systemic change and resistance, offering a more hopeful and proactive vision for the future.
User: Nat Bodinetz
22 May 2024
