I’ve had a lot of work lately and haven’t had much time to write about the topics I want to share on my blog. But reading a post on the paradox of being anticapitalist has pushed me to write a bit of political philosophy again, thanks whatamidoing! I want to explore more closely this idea that the search for alternatives to capitalism always fail (or make us hypocrites as whatamidoing says) because we depend on capitalism for our survival.
This is one of the key questions theorists have been addressing for some time now and answers are being developed, specifically because effective alternatives are being practiced, but this is something I will cover in another post. In this post, I first want to look at what it is that enables capitalism to capture dissension and contradiction, and explore how this has also taken over democratic decision-making.
While capitalism has a long history, I am going to start from the 1950s, when the welfare state developed. I’m choosing this point as it marks the linking of governance with economic growth. More specifically, the welfare state depended on 'conformist consumption'. Since production lines had limited flexibility, consumption choice was fixed to a limited set of configurations, meaning everyone had to consume the similar products and therefore ‘conform’ to the products on offer. Industries thus needed to make consumers want a homogeneous set of goods. Advertising and marketing industries boomed in this period as Edward Bernay's work on 'public opinion' and 'propaganda' was being remodelled to fit a corporate agenda. By manufacturing public opinion, corporations were able to stimulate and create demand that equalled production. Consumption and consumer sovereignty came to be understood in the public discourse as a common good because industry needed individuals to consume.
Two ideas lie here. First, that citizens progressively envisaged their role in society not as citizens but as consumers. Second, and more importantly, consumer-corporation relations changed from demand-led production (where consumers informed businesses on how they should act, what they should produce, and so on) to supply-led consumption. Here corporations no longer rely on market signals to inform how they should act, rather market demand gets created by corporate interests.
The 'liberation' and radical movements of the 1960s presented a challenge to conformist capitalism by proclaiming self-affirmation and a desire for the 'authentic'. In demanding 'authentic', 'individual' forms of life, radical movement that defined themselves as anti-capitalist struggles for individuality actually ended up creating a more pernicious form of capitalist hegemony. In responding to consumer's demands for more 'individual' and 'genuine' products and lifestyles, corporations turned counter-culture into market niches. Individuals would be able to express their disdain for the system through the consumption of symbolic goods that attached them to that identity. Ultimately, “'counter-culture' itself became a marketable identity”. In purchasing their identity in this way, individuals merely hide their conformity behind a plurality of edgy brands, or 'no-logo' brands.
Submission to the system in this manner only serves to further entrench its hegemony as these trends 'sanitise' capitalism and allow it to move beyond its contradictions. What appears as a substantial redistribution of wealth and power (because these various social movements 'succeeded' in changing the system) is in reality an appearance of choice and freedom. In other words, the fundamental symmetry between consumer and producer that lies at the heart of classical economic theory and the idea of a 'sovereign consumer' become highly distorted when consumer preference is manipulated. Understood from this sense, 'more market' really means 'more corporate power'.
The 2007-2009 economic crisis forms another important step in the redefinition of contemporary economic relations. Rather than opening the question of how to solve the crisis to public debate, the only concern was how to maintain growth through consumption since both were seen to serve the pursuit of private interests at all levels, whether individual or corporate. In this process, democracy was reduced to a set of neutral, value-free procedures and the citizen to a consumer. In other words, economy and politics were conflated to one and the same thing. This does not indicate a shift in the field of sovereignty but expresses its loss for the individual. In effect, the debate was about whether to save the banks, while ignoring the plight of millions of low- to middle-income households. The fact that movements like Occupy and the Indignados were ignored in favour of finance was justified by the 'common good' argument. But this framing is highly questionable when the 'common good' gets defined by the state or business.
How this common good gets defined draws directly on how consumer citizens are now conceived. Colin Crouch analyses the difference between 'consumer sovereignty', the democratic idea that the consumer chooses, to 'consumer welfare', where what is good for the consumer is a technocratic choice. Consumer welfare is understood as general gains across the economy since decision-making is done by state experts, and forms the basis of 'trickle down' economics. What is not explained to the population is how the distribution of this gain is ignored. By defining what counts as citizen's interest in this way, corporations and the state are in effect dethroning popular sovereignty. But sovereignty does not vanish. Using crisis as cover, sovereignty becomes an elite exercise of deciding the public interest. At the same time, one also collapses back into the idea that politics is reduced to economics and deprived of ethics.
This post covered the economic and political theory behind the way capitalism is able to integrate contradiction and revolt. What I did not cover was the conceptual framing which means the processes I have described above become reasonable and even desirable from a consumer/citizen’s point of view (this will be the subject of my next post).
A major change in the search for alternatives is the understanding that, because capitalism is so prevalent and has become so intertwined with the way we live our lives, we cannot simply step outside the system and hope to create new ways of relating to each other. I’ll be writing about this and what answers they offer in another post.
Alternatives are out there, the blockchain is potentially one of them! Stay positive and Steem on!
If you want to read more about politics, philosophy and capitalism, check out some of my other posts.
Minor Marxism and the Origins of Capitalism (Eugene Holland)
A Different Look at Stereotypes (Raoul Vaneigem)
Feminist Justice (Nancy Fraser)
References
- Crouch, Colin, 'Brand Values', RSA Journal, Vol. 157:5546, (Summer, 2011), pp. 10-13
- Crouch, Colin, 'Privatized Keynesianism: An Unacknowledged Policy Regime', The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 11, (2009), pp. 382-399
- Crouch, Colin, The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism, Polity Press (Cambridge, 2011)
- Hickel, Jason, and Khan, Arsalan, 'The Culture of Capitalism and the Crisis of Critique', Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 85:1, (2012), pp. 203-228
- Mishkin, Frederic, 'Over the Cliff: From the Subprime to the Global Financial Crisis', Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 25:1, (Winter, 2011), pp. 49-70
- Mouffe, Chantal, The Democratic Paradox, Verso, (London, 2009)
- Mouffe, Chantal, The Return of the Political, Verso, (London, 1993)
- Schmitt, Carl, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty, University of Chicago Press Ed (Chicago, 2006)
Shot you a resteem. This post deserves better.
It certainly does eat everything, which is how we ended up with a meme for a president, check out @spectrums if you want to read deep into that. I try to stay optimistic about it though, thanks to mainstream capitalism eating hippies and punks and social activism and everything else, I’m finally allowed to speak out my ideas without being treated like I have dangerous ideas, as even criticisms of capitalism seems to have become a trend of the market, look at mr. Robot. The monster seems to be eating itself, for better or worse. What better time to live daringly, I suppose.
Haha it does feel like the end times of capitalism. Not sure whether being an accelarationist is a good thing or not though, specifically because it might just be a feeling that its the end of capitalism. It's managed to subvert every alternative so far there's nothing to say that it's not doing the same now. And I find many alternatives that are suggested now, like basic income and even blockchain, do have the potential to lead to hypercapitalisation as much as freeing us from capital...
Cool I didn't know about @spectrums. I've actually been struggling to find some real philosophy on here. I've looked through the trending and hot lists (ok, I haven't been looking that far then...) but I'm sick of seeing 50 million pseud posts on "be positive and positive things will come to you" feel-good bs 'philosophy'. Like him or hate, Zizek is right to say that the point of philosophy is to show us how deep in shit we are (and offer solutions of course, but that's not his forte haha)
Thanks for the resteem! I'll be keeping an eye out on your blog too :)
End times or 2.0? I can’t be sure, just trying to do what I can with the situation at hand. I am totally that “be positive” guy, but I try to be a bit more analytical than that too. I’ll try to be more cynical for you ;-)
Hahaha don't worry, I like to be positive too. Just within the bounds of real philosophy and thought, not new-age contradictory stuff which talks about finding your true self and then goes onto Buddhism and karma. Where's the Self you're supposed to groom and know gone there? I'm more of an optimistic cynic, or transcendental nihilist, or something like that.. ;)
Check it out! We got mentions! https://steemit.com/steemit/@tubcat/tub-cat-s-activity-report-3-nominate-a-post-or-account
Whoo!!! our first step to greatness! :D
Also there's a basic income thing being set up for steemit and we need to get on it! Check out https://steemit.com/basicincome/@steembasicincome/steem-basic-income-logo-contest-winner
hey cool! we going to sponsor each other? :)
shit you're getting to know the platform well, keep me posted on awesome projects like this haha
Yeah let's sponsor each other, it'll be great!
As for getting to know the platform, I'm getting pretty excited by it. The best thing that happened to me recently was becoming part of a tribe - teamaustralia. They have minnow support initiatives to get quality content recognized. Find one near you, or make friends with a whale in the same area and start your own!
Fantastic post mate. What an excellent insight into capitalism and the deceitful marketing strategies large companies use in their marketing campaigns.
I've given you a little resteem which will hopefully help you along your Steemit journey.
Thanks pal, the support means a lot :) And it's working! I've gained more followers in the past 24hrs than any other day on steemit haha.
Btw your background is brilliant, gym owner, environmental scientist and booze lover, awesome combo! Do you have a bar in your gym that serves organic drinks? ;)
Glad it helped. Good quality content deserves to be rewarded. :)
And thank you. No bar in the gym but it’s a fantastic idea. :P
I get bored easily so change is always good.
90% of "anti-capitalist" movements are against that (and other assorted exploitations), not especially against capitalism itself.
But of course that label makes it easier to create enemies - for both sides. Which in itself is sort of funny.
edit: WTF has that post only 3 votes?? Less then those spam bot posts? So much for curating quality content...
Yeah I totally I agree with you. I'm actually starting to write something on intersectionality and domination. Being a huge fan of Horkheimer and Adorno, I'm framing it in the context of subject-object duality. Want to underline how we are always constituting Others and that we need to to interpret the world, but we shouldn't fall into the trap of believing that they're totally right. Rather we need to think consciously about how we do to make them productive.
Haha I'm a newbie on Steemit so am not surprised my posts aren't visible. But bots definitely to take the piss of the whole system...that's another post I'm going to start soon. I imagine you can see the kind of argument I'm going to make ;) Thanks for the support, it means a lot! I've done a few political theory/philosophy posts that didn't rack up a single vote (i don't vote my own posts). Glad to see that there are some like-minded individuals here! :)
I’ve nominated this article for @tubcat brownie points! Hope you get some, your article deserves more fo sho!
Wow thanks lal!!! Didn't know about tubcat, I thinks it's my favourite cat now :) I see you're into grumpycat as well, kittens are a vital part of the ecosystem here ;) xx
Tub Cat can obviously learn some things about economics and politics from you while also helping you improve your construction of posts here on Steemit. Tub Cat greatly enjoyed your post, especially where you demonstrated that capitalism was even manipulating those who believed they were avoid the grasp of capitalist society.
Tub Cat is very impressed at the quality of your post. So impressed that he has pushed the little green squishy thing with an upwards pointing arrow to show his appreciation. Tub Cat has also pushed the sideways squishy arrow type thing so that his followers will also see your post.
Tub Cat strives to encourage the production of quality content on Steemit, and has made it is mission to both reward quality content and also offer advice to new comers about how to best go about producing quality content.
Tub Cat has enjoyed your post and encourages you to keep producing such excellent content! Tub Cat has listed your post for inclusion in his next Tub Cat awards post.
Thank you furry little Aussie friend! Your vote and resteem is much appreciated! We're all in this together, Tub Cat also seems to suffer the pain of having to scrub up for work on a Monday morning :(
Any advice on writing better content is more than welcome, please don't hesitate :) I will follow you and share the wise words which come from the tub!
I admit I havent read your article with incredible attention to detail but I'm responding anyway. :) It seems to me that after 2008 with the Lehmann Brothers crash and subsequent bail out that Wall Street/Goldman-Sachs have decoupled from reality in the sense that they have rigged the game to a degree that they dont need consumers to make money. Wall Street is booming, or was :) the DOW up to 25,000 on what? These guys have figured out how to make money out of air and their machine is perfected. Only when it falters and breaks down will we see a renewed interest in "democracy" .. for now the monied elite are moving in the direction of China and Russia ie oligarchy and plutocracy.
Amazon is another issue that makes me insane. This centralizing and monopolizing under one firm that has huge economic clout seems really dangerous to me. The consumer class is drying up, expendable income is drying up so Amazon is putting its tentacles into the food market. The corporations are more important than people and as long as they have this kind of power, democracy is dying.
I understand your focus on identity politics as it seems to have a major hold on the public discourse, but ultimately don't brands and "nihilist cool" mostly exist on a superficial plane of appearances? I agree we have gone down the rabbit hole of atomized class relations aligned over various image or signifiers .. I think the internet effect is the greater issue. We all live in bubbles, little echo chambers, and Millennials and younger people have a hard time knowing which signifiers to align with because the world is increasingly dragged into the equalizing space of the internet ... increasingly no one knows what to believe in, and with rulers like Trump signalling a sort of spiritually-void nihilist materialism, with our education (our meaning USA, but perhaps also in the EU) being gutted by data-driven policy, etc etc .. people do not know what to believe anymore. We are in a crisis of meaning. I know I sound conservative here, but I think community/society requires common signifiers and that is falling apart.
With Wall Street lurching along and recent falls and tremors, maybe we will see a market correction. IMHO we desperately need a reality-based global economy that responds to the human needs of the global citizenry .. what we have is a well-crafted trap that enriches a tiny oligarchy .. they will not relinquish that power willingly.
So I didnt respond point by point to your text but in the general spirit of it, I hope.
Thanks for this really insightful comment @praguepainter!! That's a lot to respond, but even without reading the whole post in detail you hit the nail on the head all along the way! This post is actually from a draft of a paper I started a while back but pulled out because of another post I saw which focused on the "contradiction of being anticapitalist". Interestingly, everything you mention (except your paragraph on Amazon and declining consumer purchasing power) is in this draft haha. Nearly reaching mind reading level there! :)
These guys have figured out how to make money out of air and their machine is perfected.
-> exactly! The added twist in this story is that it has been decoupled from debt, which has been thrown on the backs of citizens. This is something Colin Crouch, who I reference above, covers in detail in The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism.
don't brands and "nihilist cool" mostly exist on a superficial plane of appearances
-> Yes I completely agree. This is not something I detail above but leave implicit as I detail it more in my draft. Rather, I return to the notion of mimesis to explain it. But they are indeed superficial constructs since they are more about identification with the system (where even rebellion becomes part of the system and therefore a valid form of identification) rather than actual values and identities which have any substance about the good or moral life. Rather, they are the illusion that capitalism provides us the liberty to choose what life is good for us, when in fact they are just variations of the same life provided by capitalism. This is deeply linked to my understanding of signifiers.
Signifiers: The power of capitalism, liberalism and the state is that they rely on a constellation of signifiers which emerged and work together hand-in-hand to justify the nihilistic and 'baseless' psychology under capitalism. So capitalism is not baseless and does indeed have its own signifiers! It is grounded in the Enlightenment concept of human as a purely rational, autonomous and unified Self. This + Kantian dignity provides the basis for liberalism. Capitalism comes as the economic system which best enables individuals to exercise this autonomy (translated as self-interest) in a rational manner. The Westphalian state enshrines these concepts in law and provides a means of enforcing compliance with the system.
Where does the solution start? New signifiers! :) So worry not, you are not old-fashioned or conservative! Or if talking about signifiers and that we need them is old-fashioned, then the rear-guard has become the avant-guard ;)
we desperately need a reality-based global economy that responds to the human needs of the global citizenry
-> I see a transition to energy-based valuation as a key to transitioning to a new economic system. Firstly, this should introduce the real cost, both material and human, of what we produce. I hope it will also reorient production towards more useful ends as we realise the waste of much of what we do economically. Also, it will make the producer-consumer loop much smaller, ideally bringing the two into direct contact (agroecology etc.). Secondly, it enshrines the passage to the ecological paradigm we need to shift to and will provide the basis for understanding it. Can it create new signifiers? Partly (in theory at least..) since it should serve to underline the interconnected nature of much of what we do (complexity theory etc.).
Excuse the short responses to your different points (that said I've beat my record for longest comment haha). Nonetheless, you have motivated me to cover each one in a post! Looking forward to discussing these topics more with you! :)