Capitalist Realism

I should have read Mark Fisher's "Capitalist Realism" at the very beginning of my incursion into philosophy - it would have made many concepts easier to grasp. It's a solid introduction to concepts such as "reality versus The Real", "the big Other", to the critique of ideology.

The tone is closer to "anecdotes told over beer" than to a formal philosophical essay. To my understanding, the book is, after all, an extension of ideas that Fisher was already writing about on his blog.

This is the second book of Mark Fisher's that I've read (the other being "The Weird and the Eerie") where I have the feeling of the words washing over me, but just no idea of what's going on. I'll probably give it a re-read at some point, especially as it's so short, just to see what all the fuss is about, but I'm afraid this read pretty much made no impression.

This book ties together a lot of strands of modern thought into a coherent narrative about the corrosive effects of capitalism. I'm sure I missed a lot the first time through, so it's on my list for a re-read.

A scathing indictment of capitalism, by (successfully) putting the blame for several contemporary social ilks on it.

My only criticism is that while it makes a strong case both for capitalist realism existing as an ideology and it being a problem, the book does not make the case for any alternatives. It does contain some actionable suggestions for how to fight capitalism. But it falls short of providing a systemic alternative. As such, while it successfully argues that capitalist realism is a problem, it doesn't fully prove that it's wrong.

Nevertheless, a good read and well argued.