Always on: Capitalist continuity and Its discontents

Why should we critically reflect on continuity today? To immediately address the central point, it suffices to invoke the issues and standpoints that occupy radical theorists today, such as the direct, impassionate question, When and how will capitalism finally end? Another widespread articulation of the same concern would range from the different obscure claims about “living in the end times,” stemming from politico-eschatological perspectives of capitalism’s self-destructiveness, to hard evidence of disaster capitalism’s devastation and destabilization of the natural world. In a less theoretical but more pointed form, this central concern has been echoed in people’s responses to the greedy, cynical warmongering of recent times, new right-wing populist deceptions of the dispossessed masses, and the incredible burgeoning of inequality worldwide. These versions of desperate wondering could be summed up in the question, When will this massive, repetitive absurdity end? Today, this end is imagined in less utopian, inspiring shapes than before, ranging from explosive, unpredictable technological acceleration, random catastrophes, and ecological disaster to more sober discussions about the opportunities for a renewed radical politics.

Citation

Penzin, A. (2019) Always on: Capitalist continuity and Its discontents, in Kholeif, O. and Sarkisov, K. (eds.) Time, forward! Venice/London: V–A–C Press, DelMonico Books/Prestel.

Type

Chapter in book

Language

en

ISBN

9783791359083

Collections

Faculty of Arts