In his highly influential book Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (2009), the late Mark Fisher expounded the concept of ‘capitalis
In the context of knowledge capitalism, we find that in various social interactions and situations, we are presenting our entrepreneurial selves, which often means presenting our self-fashioned personal brand (“Me Inc”), consisting of our cultural capital, intellect, skills, and whatever else we believe to be our marketable, unique selling point. Knowledge capitalism encourages us to accrue not wealth and physical commodities but knowledge. In knowledge capitalism, the winning, high-status players are the know-it-alls, not the have-it-alls. This doesn’t mean the have-it-alls aren’t also high-status and powerful, or that knowledge capitalism has replaced material capitalism – the former is just another permutation of neoliberal ideology, existing alongside and reinforcing the latter.
Without even realising it, knowledge capitalism motivates us to leverage our cultural capital when conversing with others (think of name-dropping, using verbose language, overusing technical jargon, desperately trying to prove others wrong or to prove oneself right, failing to admit one’s ignorance, straw-manning people’s arguments, dominating conversations, and looking for any opportunity to debate and undermine another’s intellect). Following [Ulrich] Bröckling’s appraisal of neoliberalism, ‘debate me culture’ (which is most pronounced in online forums and on social media) is characterised by individuals wishing to flex their intellectual prowess, to show off what they know and how cultured they are. This is, arguably, another reflection of market capitalism.
In daily life, when presenting ourselves and our thoughts, how often are we driven by competitive feelings, by a wish to simultaneously undermine someone and elevate our social status? If we are honest with ourselves (myself included), it seems that this is, indeed, a recurring feature of human interaction and relationships. Neoliberalism, thus, instils in us a drive to push our persona of ‘intellectual’, ‘expert’, or ‘knowledgeable person’ onto others, but in the process, we become inauthentic, with our relationships devalued by competitive discourse and intellectual one-upping.
