No. Well, maybe. Kind of? When Mark Fisher wrote Capitalist Realism, it’s safe to say that he lived in a different time. The Great Recession and financial crisis of 2008 dominated the headlines and the breadlines. It was a moment that many critiqued as crony capitalism, a reinforcement of broken structures, and even more broke corporations. Capitalist Realism came at a time before Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, and the pink tide. It’s probably best to define what Fisher was even talking about. Capitalist realism is a worldview that has one sole tenet: it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.
It is a depressing ideology. Capitalist realism is, in a sense, beyond pessimistic in the way that it describes ‘anti-capitalist’ efforts. Even the best ‘anti-capitalists’ no longer fight against capitalism itself; they only act to mitigate its effects. By its own nature, capitalist realism is defeatist in practice. If there is no alternative to the hegemonic world order, then why even try?
Fisher diagnoses three symptoms of late-stage capitalism to make his case (at least three that I think are important to mention; there are mentions of other stuff, but these are the big ones). The first is mental illness, the second is bureaucracy, and the third is capitalism’s uncanny ability to deflect.
🧠 Mental Illness
This is a difficult point to handle, and one that breaks most perceptions of mental illness today. Psychology is, of course, a well-developed field in its own right. Yet, Fisher ascribes mental illness as a result of capitalism’s slow breakdown of society. An alienation of society follows the alienation of labor. Mental distress is on a notable rise, but while experts struggle to assign blame ranging from the pandemic to devices to more social politics, the economy is slowly becoming a more appealing answer.
A 9-to-5 is grueling, maybe even to the point of permanent damage. Fisher notes the successful “chemical-biologization of mental illness” is a move to depoliticize the phenomenon. If there is no link between your working standards and your mental standards, you are more atomized than before and companies call sell you on new anti-depressants. Whether you agree with this description of mental illness, that it is political as well as individual, the solution is still largely the same: more government attention to analyzing and understanding this growing issue.
🏢 Bureaucracy
Administration and regulation is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can benefit and protect the worker. On the other hand, it can serve to reinforce hierarchies and obscure fault. Fisher points us to Slavoj Žižek and the concept of symbolic efficiency. Bureaucracy can create the illusion of efficiency.
I’d supplant these claims with David Graber’s Bullshit Jobs and Sara Ahmed’s Complaint!. Workers of a bureaucratic system push responsibilities around, tick boxes, and things go nowhere. Though Fisher connects bureaucracy to the idea of an “inspection regime”, it’s easier to frame bureaucracy around the fact that these systems end up doing very little. From the NHS’s growing backlog to dozens of underfunded EPA assignments, bureaucracy is preventing our systems from working for us. And, if that’s the case, it’s an endless goal.
🪞 Deflection
The 2008 Financial Crisis revealed that deflection is perhaps the status quo’s most powerful tool. In short, things were too big to fail. Blame could always be pointed at the next CEO or the last politician. The mechanism that Fisher highlights is the focus on immoral individuals instead of structures or institutions as a whole.
I think the best modern example is recycling. We have been told for decades that plastic recycling is an essential way for each and every one of us to contribute to the environment; a way to fight climate change. It isn’t and never was. Not only has recycling failed based on the numbers, it fundamentally deflects responsibility from corporations to individuals. Practically, the actions of many will never amount to that of multinational corporations. The ability of marketing campaigns to convince the public otherwise demonstrates the societal hold that capital has. Keep an eye out for deflection because it really is everywhere…
Conclusion
I find myself agreeing with Mark Fisher more and more as time goes on. Though I’m still skeptical on the mental illness part, his thoughts on bureaucracy and deflection track with both the writings of others and with how things have played out in recent years. It’s sad to say that there might not be an end. We can only stand to embody realism when we hope that it’s wrong.