Where are we going? Capitalism and Culture

‘Our human nature must shape the economic system, not the economic system shape us”

We find ourselves at a crossroad- a pivot which has the ability to alter and manipulate our humanity. Capitalism, at its core is presumed exponential in its nature: in recent times, the rate of historical change has rapidly accelerated: the gap between the monumental industrial revolution and digitisation is minute compared to the 12,000 year gap which exists between the former and the first “disruption” (as Bastani notes) to the human course, which was the neolithic revolution (the change from nomadic hunting to agriculture, generating a surplus of food and a change of living which exceeded mere survival). This unnatural pace in advancement isn’t applicable to the rate of change we undergo as humans, the course of evolution taking millions of years for us to adapt to external conditions.To most effectively grasp why this rate of change is so alarming and dangerous, one can look at the effect that capitalism has had on culture in the most recent years. Mark Fisher states that capitalism is directly responsible for the “de-eroticisation” of culture: the fact that one can access the whole history and breadth of culture without having to physically move from a computer is a prime example of how our state becomes inundated and our attention spans shortened: the combination of over-stimulation and digital communications leads to the pursuit of short term gratification fixes, which result in culture being reduced to mere clickbait or 10 second, tacky TikTok videos. Culture has nowhere to go as it is epitomised in its most basic form, the fulfilling pursuit and exploration inbetween are made no longer. This can be held responsible for what Fisher notes as “nostalgic culture”- if culture has no organic progression and future, it reverts to recapturing previous trends, hence the resurgence of early 2000s fashion and record players for example.This rise in short-term gratification culture isn’t just damaging to popular culture but to the wider landscape of society in general. Whilst noting the obvious fact that culture is incremental to our perception of the world, fulfillment and wellbeing, it sets a precedence for how we interact with other humans and the system that we reside in. The response to the black lives matter movement is a clear example: Whist it took the cold-blooded killing of George Floyd to ignite the movement, it seemed the momentum for this campaign was unmatched to any other in recent history, with people in monumental numbers actively taking to the streets to demand change for weeks on end- it seems all of this was down to the role of social media, which provided an accessible platform for many to gain an education and spread awareness of the pressing cause. However, in my opinion, it was also this entity that became responsible for the movement’s deceleration. In correlation with the rise of short term gratification culture, where quick snippets of calls for social justice and petitions were mindlessly shared to instagram stories, politics once again became passive: people became inundated and desensitised to killings, police brutality and events that should in no way have been taken lightly. Social Media is the direct integration of capitalist culture, its solacing of performative activism which sheds light to issues, merely acts as a match, not a coal for the fire to burn from. The means in which we interact with politics should not be static and contented as the oppressed become silenced and change becomes futile. The prophecy of “Capitalist Realism” (where one can’t imagine there is a possible alternative to the Capitalist Status Quo, where these inequalities are all too prevalent) becomes imminent unless we tackle the bull by the horns. The ways in which our current economic system has shaped social values into passiveness and submission is not representative of our humanity, our human nature must shape the economic system, not the economic system shape us.