Against the invisibilization of a “fateful power”: a plea for a renewal of the critique of capitalism

Abstract

In contrast to contemporary diagnoses according to which there would not be such thing as capitalism in the singular, but rather a diversity of production regimes and legal and political arrangements, this article aims to elucidate how the capitalist system imposes on society and its subjects, across their divisions, a common developmental orientation and transforms them according to the ruthless logic and dynamics of capital accumulation. Two associated structural principles are highlighted: the coercion to grow and the coercion to accelerate. These provide the basis for the formulation of three diagnoses of the problematic or pathological effects of capitalism for individual and social life: the diagnosis of irrationality; the diagnosis of detemporalisation or depression; and the diagnosis of alienation.