자본주의적 현실주의(Capitalistic Realism)

[논둑길맨발로]

그는 종종 자신의 머리 속의 "냉소하는 소리"로 우울증을 경험했습니다. 그 목소리는 확실히 개인적으로 느껴졌습니다. 그러나 마크는 그 목소리를“실제 사회 세력의 내면화 된 표현”으로 보았습니다. 그리고 그 세력은“우울증과 정치 사이의 관계를 거부하는 데 큰 기득권을 가지고 있습니다.
이러한 사회 세력은 의심 할 여지없이“자본주의 현실주의”라는 그의 가장 유명한 개념으로 결합되어 있습니다.
그는 같은 이름의 그의 저서에서 자본주의 현실주의는“자본주의에 대한 대안이 없다는 광범위한 수용”이다 라고 쓰고 있다 . 신자유주의 자본주의에 대한 열정적인 포옹이 아니고 설령 그것이 존재하더라도 오랜 과거의 일이다. 오히려 그것은 신자유주의 자본주의가 도시에서 유일한 게임이라는 기왕의 결론에 대한 광범위한 체념이다.
“신자유주의는 이제 좀비처럼 지리멸렬한 상태로 있다. 그러나 좀비 영화 애호가들이 잘 알고 있듯이, 때로는 살아있는 사람보다 좀비를 죽이기가 더 어렵다.”

He often experienced his depression as a “sneering” voice inside his head. That voice felt deeply personal, to be sure. But Mark came to see that voice as “the internalized expression‎‎ of actual social forces.” And those forces “have a vested interest in denying any connection between depression and politics.”
Those social forces were tied, no doubt, to the concept he was most famous for: “capitalist realism.”
Capitalist realism, he wrote in his book of the same name, is “the widespread acceptance that there is no alternative to capitalism.” It’s not an enthusiastic embrace of neoliberal capitalism — that embrace has long passed, if it ever existed.Rather, it’s a widespread sense of resignation over the foregone conclusion that neoliberal capitalism is the only game in town.
“Neoliberalism now shambles on as a zombie,” he writes, “but as the aficionados of zombie films are well aware, it is sometimes harder to kill a zombie than a living person.”

The Beginning of the End of Capitalist Realism
BY
MICAH UETRICHT


https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/capitalist-realism-mark-fisher-k-punk-depression

***

자본주의의 상황이 명백히 견딜 수 없을 때임에도 불구하고, 자본주의 현실주의가 지속되는 이유는 왜인가. Fisher는“ 더 나음을 위한 실패가 아니라 이기기 위한 실패”에서 다음과 같이 썼습니다.

제 생각에 그것은 자본주의가 특히 좋은 시스템이라는 아이디어에 관한 것이 아니었기 때문입니다. 그것은 사람들에게 그것이 유일하게 실행 가능한 시스템이고 대안의 구축이 불가능하다는 것,
자본주의는 거의 저항 할 수없는 자연의 힘과 같은 것을 설득하는 것에 관한 것이 었습니다.
대중의 정신에 대한 자본주의 현실주의의 주요 각인은 체념입니다. 피셔는 이것이 대중 문화에서 가장 많이 보았으며, 이것이 그의 주요 주제였습니다. 그는 예술과 오락을 자본주의 현실주의에 가끔씩 저항하는 장소로 보았지만, 해가 갈수록 그 정도가 줄어들고 있다고 보았습니다.

The question, then, is why capitalist realism persists, when conditions under capitalism are so evidently untenable. In “Not Failing Better, But Fighting to Win,” Fisher wrote:
In my view it is because it was never really necessarily about the idea that capitalism was a particularly good system: it was more about persuading people that it is the only viable system and that the building of an alternative is impossible… that capitalism is almost like a force of nature, which cannot be resisted.
The main imprint of capitalist realism on the mass psyche is resignation. Fisher saw this most in pop culture, which was his primary subject matter. He saw art and entertainment as sites of occasional resistance to capitalist realism, but less so with each passing year.

The Gospel According to Mark Fisher
BY
MEAGAN DAY
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/11/mark-fisher-capitalist-realism-vampires-castle-kpunk


***

더 나은 세상은 확실하지 않습니다. 그러나 한 가지 분명합니다 : 우리는 자본주의 현실주의의 종말이 시작되는 것을 목격하고있습니다.

Mark는 우리 모두가 함께 살고있는 집단적 우울증을 볼 수 있도록 도와주었습니다. 마침내 저 우울증이 세상에서 걷히는 것을 볼 수있을 정도로 오래 견지했다면 얼마나 좋을까요. 아마도 그것은 자신의 우울증을 걷어내는 데에도 도움이되었을 것입니다.

A better world isn’t certain. But one thing is clear: we are witnessing the beginning of the end of capitalist realism.
Mark helped us see that collective depression we have all lived in. I only wish he could have held on long enough to see that depression finally lift from the world. Perhaps it would have helped lift his own.


The Beginning of the End of Capitalist Realism
BY
MICAH UETRICHT

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/capitalist-realism-mark-fisher-k-punk-depression


***


The Vampires’ Castle feeds on the energy and anxieties and vulnerabilities of young students, but most of all it lives by converting the suffering of particular groups – the more ‘marginal’ the better – into academic capital. The most lauded figures in the Vampires’ Castle are those who have spotted a new market in suffering – those who can find a group more oppressed and subjugated than any previously exploited will find themselves promoted through the ranks very quickly.

1.
The first law of the Vampires’ Castle is: individualise and privatise everything. While in theory it claims to be in favour of structural critique, in practice it never focuses on anything except individual behaviour. Some of these working class types are not terribly well brought up, and can be very rude at times. Remember: condemning individuals is always more important than paying attention to impersonal structures. The actual ruling class propagates ideologies of individualism, while tending to act as a class. (Many of what we call ‘conspiracies’ are the ruling class showing class solidarity.) The VC, as dupe-servants of the ruling class, does the opposite: it pays lip service to ‘solidarity’ and ‘collectivity’, while always acting as if the individualist categories imposed by power really hold. Because they are petit-bourgeois to the core, the members of the Vampires’ Castle are intensely competitive, but this is repressed in the passive aggressive manner typical of the bourgeoisie. What holds them together is not solidarity, but mutual fear – the fear that they will be the next one to be outed, exposed, condemned.
2.
The second law of the Vampires’ Castle is: make thought and action appear very, very difficult. There must be no lightness, and certainly no humour. Humour isn’t serious, by definition, right? Thought is hard work, for people with posh voices and furrowed brows. Where there is confidence, introduce scepticism. Say: don’t be hasty, we have to think more deeply about this. Remember: having convictions is oppressive, and might lead to gulags.
3.
The third law of the Vampires’ Castle is: propagate as much guilt as you can. The more guilt the better. People must feel bad: it is a sign that they understand the gravity of things. It’s OK to be class-privileged if you feel guilty about privilege and make others in a subordinate class position to you feel guilty too. You do some good works for the poor, too, right?
4.
The fourth law of the Vampires’ Castle is: essentialize. While fluidity of identity, pluraity and multiplicity are always claimed on behalf of the VC members – partly to cover up their own invariably wealthy, privileged or bourgeois-assimilationist background – the enemy is always to be essentialized. Since the desires animating the VC are in large part priests’ desires to excommunicate and condemn, there has to be a strong distinction between Good and Evil, with the latter essentialized. Notice the tactics. X has made a remark/ has behaved in a particular way – these remarks/ this behaviour might be construed as transphobic/ sexist etc. So far, OK. But it’s the next move which is the kicker. X then becomes defined as a transphobe/ sexist etc. Their whole identity becomes defined by one ill-judged remark or behavioural slip. Once the VC has mustered its witch-hunt, the victim (often from a working class background, and not schooled in the passive aggressive etiquette of the bourgeoisie) can reliably be goaded들들볶다 into losing their temper, further securing their position as pariah천덕꾸러기/ latest to be consumed in feeding frenzy.
5.
The fifth law of the Vampires’ Castle: think like a liberal (because you are one). The VC’s work of constantly stoking up reactive outrage consists of endlessly pointing out the screamingly obvious: capital behaves like capital (it’s not very nice!), repressive state apparatuses are repressive. We must protest!


Exiting the Vampire Castle

Mark Fisher
24 November 2013

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/exiting-vampire-castle/

Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), known for his blog called K-Punk, was a British writer, critic, cultural theorist, philosopher and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. He initially achieved acclaim for his blogging as k-punk in the early 2000s, and was known for his writing on radical politics, music, and popular culture
Fisher published several books, including the unexpected success Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (2009), and contributed to publications such as The Wire, Fact, New Statesman and Sight & Sound. He was also the co-founder of Zero Books, and later Repeater Books. He died by suicide in January 2017, shortly before the publication of The Weird and the Eerie (2017).