Capitalist Realism (New Edition)
by Mark Fisher

An analysis of the ways in which capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system.

After 1989, capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political economic system. What effects has this “capitalist realism” had on work, culture, education and mental health? Is it possible to imagine an alternative to capitalism that is not some throwback to discredited models of state control?

FOREWORD BY ZOE FISHER, INTRODUCTION BY ALEX NIVEN AND AFTERWORD BY TARIQ GODDARD.

Reviews:
...the book contains some interesting insights and neo-Marxist references, worth a look to update your own ideas. Fisher is dead set against the heroic nostalgia of 1870, 1917, the 1930s or the 1960–1970s, and that makes sense. The present and future is the thing. ~ Gregg Gibbs, May Day Books & Blog

I've reviewed "Capitalist Realism" and put it front of store (it started to sell pretty much instantly, not surprising considering how great it is!) and intend on doing so with more of your Zer0 books. ~ Terry Thomson, Senior Bookseller, Waterstones Trafalgar Square

Finally, an analysis of contemporary capitalism that combines rigorous cultural analysis with unflinching political critique. Illustrating the deleterious effects of 'business ontology' on education and 'market Stalinism' in public life, Fisher lays bare the new cultural logic of capital. A provocative and necessary read, especially for anyone wanting to talk seriously about the politics of education today. ~ Sarah Amsler, lecturer in sociology at Aston University, in The Times Higher Education Supplement

One of the most exciting publishing events of 2009 was the emergence of the new imprint Zero Books. It publishes short, intelligent polemics on politics and culture, packing a lot of punch into about 80 pages and they are masterclasses in how supposedly tough theory can be made accessible and help us to understand society. The latest of these is Capitalist Realism by leading radical blogger Mark Fisher who has been blogging under the name k-punk for the past few years. It's a sharp analysis of the post-ideological malaise that suggests that the economics and politics of neo-liberalism are givens rather than constructions. "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism", Fisher spits, and his book takes in film, Baudrillard, Kurt Cobain, science fiction, mental health, bureaucracy and economics. Zer0 Books are ... must-reads. ~ Rowan Wilson, Verso Publishing and ReadySteadyBook blogger

One might be tempted to assume that a book that so devastatingly diagnoses the abysmal conditions of the present would be heavily laden with nostalgic melancholy, perhaps full of bitter condemnatory memories about a different, better world that once was. However, you would be very wrong to make such an assumption. Fisher's book is not at all a work of nostalgia or mourning for such a lost world, and probably shouldn't even be described as simply just another piece of critical diagnosis. In short it is a rich, passionate, militant and wholly optimistic polemic that is all too aware of the excremental machine of capitalism that spreads its banal ontological coordinates across virtually every aspect of our daily lives, thoughts, desires, dreams, hopes and beliefs. ~ Darren Ambrose, http://lombard-street.blogspot.com/

Capitalist Realism is the most important document the British left has produced so far this century. ~ Aaron Bastani, Novara Media

This second edition is a timely excuse to re-read Capitalist Realism.

While some of the book’s contexts and references may have moved on, its underlying analysis of how politics and culture converge on the same stagnation remains of great importance to those of us continuing to wonder whether there might not be a better way.

Capitalist Realism remains the centrepiece of Fisher’s comparatively short but indispensable contribution to British cultural theory. ~ Adam Harper, ArtReview

The best guide to British politics today. ~ Bagehot, The Economist

The beauty of Mark Fisher's laser sharp critique of the destructive effects of life under Neo-Liberalism was that it spoke to ordinary people in plain language that went beyond the often hermetic intellectual world of Academia. He is greatly missed. We need voices like Mark's more than ever. ~ Bobby Gillespie, Primal Scream

Let's not beat around the bush: Fisher's compulsively readable book is simply the best diagnosis of our predicament that we have! Through examples from daily life and popular culture, but without sacrificing theoretical stringency, he provides a ruthless portrait of our ideological misery. Although the book is written from a radically Left perspective, Fisher offers no easy solutions. Capitalist Realism is a sobering call for patient theoretical and political work. It enables us to breathe freely in our sticky atmosphere. ~ Slavoj Žiźek

What happened to our future? Mark Fisher is a master cultural diagnostician, and in Capitalist Realism he surveys the symptoms of our current cultural malaise. We live in a world in which we have been told, again and again, that There Is No Alternative. The harsh demands of the 'just-in-time' marketplace have drained us of all hope and all belief. Living in an endless Eternal Now, we no longer seem able to imagine a future that might be different from the present. This book offers a brilliant analysis of the pervasive cynicism in which we seem to be mired, and even holds out the prospect of an antidote. ~ Steven Shaviro, author of Connected and Doom Patrols

The best diagnosis of our predicament that we have. ~ Slavoj Žiźek

Fisher defines "capitalist realism" as a pervasive atmosphere, conditioning the production of culture, and the regulation of work and education", something which acts as an "invisible barrier constraining thought and action". The reality certainly exists, vouched for by the symptomatic analysis Fisher performs on a multitude of cultural phenomena; and yet, crucially, a reality that always includes, and depends upon, our implicit acknowledgment of it as delineating the realms of the possible. "Being realistic" is often a case of "reflexive impotence": seeing as we are helpless to change anything, why bother trying? This attitude is evidently true — think of the Iraq War protest — but nevertheless self-fulfilling. With this in mind, Fisher's book is, despite the oppressive diagnosis, a much-needed plea that the present economic crisis be seized as an opportunity; a tipping point that allows us to build an alternative to this increasingly intolerable and ultimately unsustainable mode of living. ~ Dean Kenning, Art Monthly

Packs more original ideas in its 81 pages then a year's worth of issues of The Guardian newspaper or New Left Review. It deals with a subject that has frustrated and haunted me all my adult life-the seeming social, economic and cultural totality of late capitalism and the corresponding impossibility of offering any alternative to the system without hitting a brick wall of 'being practical' or 'realistic,' translated as 'there is no alternative to the market.' Mark Fisher calls this totality 'capitalist realism' and the book could not come at a better time, when neoliberalism has at its most basic, material level been shown conclusively not to be working. Deeply intellectual but not abstract, giving concrete examples from everyday life and the popular culture of western societies. It's this that differentiates Mark Fisher from many writers of the left, who tend to look pityingly or voyeuristically elsewhere (Palestine, South America) and bypass the 'mundane' and 'ordinary' frustrations and struggles of work and leisure, situated in the very society most of these worthy and sometimes moralistic writers come from. ~ Underground Man, http://undergroundmangeomatt.blogspot.com/