Capitalist Realism

This is the author's preferred term for the economic structures within which we live, especially since 1989. He asks if there is no alternative to accepting the domination of systemic and growing inequality. He calls on the left to deepen its analysis of our current predicament and encourage green shoots of new thinking embodied in alternative communities and the new economics. Perhaps the most interesting reflections concern the attitude of young people in the further education college in which the author has taught. He writes of their 'reflexive impotence' – the knowledge that things are bad and that they can't do anything about it. This is a state of interpassivity that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. He writes that most of the teenagers with whom he worked had mental health problems and learning difficulties, and he characterises them as existing in a state of depressive hedonia whereby the pursuit of pleasure is the only imperative, while sensing that some deeper connection is missing. There is also a tension between the old world of educational institutions as disciplinary and the new status of students as consumers of services. The implication is that they can get away with doing very little work and even listening to music during class while complaining that any small amount of reading is simply boring and that they can't do it. Add to the mix that they are all hooked into entertainment and have short attention spans. The crisis is exacerbated by the facts about 25% of 16 to 24-year-olds are unemployed so they can't see the point of education or indeed of life. This issue requires a fundamental rethink of our values and social systems.