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Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

by Mark Fisher

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How capitalism comes to seem inevitable

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AlbakiReads Editorial

How capitalism comes to seem inevitable

Mark Fisher examines “capitalist realism” as an ideological framework shaping everyday experience, from politics and work to education, film and fiction. Drawing on examples that include *Children of Men*, Kafka and Le Guin, the book considers how free-market neoliberalism can be treated as common sense rather than as a political and economic arrangement. Fisher also takes up the 2008 financial crisis and asks how capitalism’s contradictions might be challenged. This revised edition adds an introduction on the book’s political significance years after its original publication, alongside material about Fisher and the book’s writing and editing.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in political philosophy and critiques of neoliberalism
  • Those exploring how ideology appears in culture, education and work
  • Readers studying contemporary political thought through examples from film and fiction

Themes

Capitalist realismNeoliberalism and ideologyPolitics of education and workFilm and fiction as cultural examplesChallenges to capitalism

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system - a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The book analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework. Using examples from politics, film (Children Of Men, Jason Bourne, Supernanny), fiction (Le Guin and Kafka), work and education, it argues that capitalist realism colors all areas of contemporary experience, is anything but realistic and asks how capitalism and its inconsistencies can be challenged. It is a sharp analysis of the post-ideological malaise that suggests that the economics and politics of free market neo-liberalism are givens rather than constructions.

New Edition includes:
  • Forward by Zoe Fisher, Mark's wife, talking about Mark as a person
  • Introduction by Alex Niven, his friend and colleague, talking about the political significance of the book thirteen years after it was written
  • Afterword by Tariq Goddard, the original editor and publisher, describing the writing and editing of the book, its original reception, and Mark's own view of it


"A quick and entertaining read." Socialist Standard

"A provocative and necessary read...for anyone wanting to talk seriously about the politics of education today. " Times Higher Educational Supplement
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