The Political Economy of Mark Fisher
From Capitalist Realism to Acid Communism, we shouldn’t overlook Fisher’s impact on political economy
I believe, in time, the vastness and significance of Mark Fisher’s contribution will permeate throughout the social sciences — and economics in particular — with the ferocity of a meteor impacting the Earth. Fisher is, in my opinion, a man whose work has done much for the study of political economy, though lacks that distinction as his work resembles little of the political economy we recognise today.
Indeed, political economy itself is a concept that is stretched thin through its misuse and is increasingly suffocated by the expansion of economics on the one hand, and cultural theory on the other. However, insofar as economics (and economic rationale via the concept of cost-benefit analysis) has been allowed to penetrate into every corner of modern society, I would suggest we economists, political or otherwise, should accept the insights of cultural critics — and Fisher in particular — and in doing so, may originate a new, or at least refreshed, political economy.
I should say, I maintain a not insignificant degree of disdain for much cultural criticism, on two counts.
