Every now and then a book comes along that captures and synthesizes the entirety of the problems a culture is confronting. This may come in the form of a novel or in non-fiction. “Les Miserable” by Victor Hugo is one of the greatest works of literature, a historical novel that accurately portrayed the problems of 19th century France. “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens summarized 19th century England and begins with the oft quoted lines “It was the best of times, it was the worst of time, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.”
On rare occasion, we are greeted with non-fiction which can also be groundbreaking in its wisdom. “The Second Sex” by French existential philosopher Simone de Beauvoir was the inspiration point for second-wave feminism because of its ability to capture, analyze and synthesize the entire history of the treatment of women.
I believe we have another such groundbreaking book that synthesizes and explains the problems of we face in the 21st century. Nancy Fraser, professor of Philosophy and Politics at The New School for Social Research, recently published “Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet and What We Can Do About It” (2022.)
Professor Fraser has been able to trace all of the major crises that America has been grappling with over the last 35 years, including global warming, income inequality, political divisiveness and women’s rights by connecting them to the unchained, unrelenting, rapacious and unchallenged rise of capitalism.
I was especially interested in her impressions of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that came on the heels of the worldwide economic meltdown in 2008. She suggests that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement was left-wing populism at its best and this may be true. The fact that this movement quickly disappeared without a whimper does not bode well for Fraser’s hopeful, fingers-crossed conclusions and recommendations.
Fraser brilliantly described cannibal capitalism as an unstoppable global force with a mind of its own. It is by no means farfetched to suggest that capitalism has run rampant and does not have a counter point strong enough to offer any checks and balances.
In 2014 I wrote a piece called “The Psychology of the One-Percenters” where I explained that if one viewed the corporation as an individual, one would have to diagnose it as sociopathic. This was restating what law professor Joel Bakan wrote about in his book “The Corporation.”
Capitalism’s mighty children are called corporations and they are powerful, hungry, ruthless, rapacious and heartless. They are similar to the way super computers were described in the film “The Terminator” only worse.
Fraser explains the multi-headed crisis that is upon us as we face global warming, political divisiveness, growing income disparity and social reproduction issues. We all know by now that corporations and major lobbying dollars now control our government and have maimed and castrated all of its regulatory agencies.
We also know that global warming probably did result from corporate avarice and the rape of the land.
The One Percenters are alive and well and are more powerful than they were back in 2008 when the term was first coined. By the way, Bernie Sanders was the last voice of left-wing populism, but he was no match for Donald Trump.
A unique aspect of Fraser’s thesis was her take on social reproduction. Social reproduction includes bathing, feeding, socializing and replenishing not only the next generation of youngsters but also to do the same for adult males. This traditional feminine role is often considered to be outside of the economic realm yet it is a crucial element for any capitalistic system. If you doubt this, think of what would happen if mothers decided they would no longer think about waking, feeding or dressing their children. Quickly you would have feral children running wild in the streets. I recall having a patient who was basically on her own from the age of four and that she recalled her effort to cook by putting some water and dirt and rocks in pot, stir it up and try to eat it. That is what happens when children do not have a caretaker.
One subject I don’t believe she explored enough is the incredible increase in mass shootings, which seem to me to be about extreme levels of hopelessness, rage and shame felt by many Americans who labor to earn a living every day. This trend in domestic terrorism began in earnest back in 1999 with the Columbine High School shootings. This trend shows no signs of going away any time soon and is a cultural symptom of overwhelming anger and despair.
Fraser emphasizes the fact that the above mentioned crises have a seismic or epochal stature to them which will be a challenge to overcome. Charles Dickens said: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” If he were alive today he might choose to say
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
It is the age of money, it is the age of poverty,
It was a time of pride, it was a time of shame,
The century of hope , the century of doom,
It is time to take up prayer once again and hope that
Someone shows up to lead us out of this darkness.”
