Capitalism and Nothingness

Critical Theory in Unwanted Times

Peter Fleming

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
20 March 2025

Social & political philosophy; Economic systems & structures; Office & workplace; Working patterns & practices

Drawing on Marcuse, Adorno, Arendt and a variety of other critical social philosophers, this book introduces us to a familiar character amid the wreckage of the post-pandemic economy: no-dimensional man. A cousin of Marcuse’s one-dimensional man, they are a figure so compressed by the unending present of capitalism that they have ceased to be genuinely present in any ethical or political sense.

This is Peter Fleming’s brilliant analysis of the psychological and institutional mechanisms that drive the demise of capitalist democracies. The scene is set in no-dimensional man’s natural habitats – the modern office, the corporate suite, the government bureau and the corporate university. In these treacherous climes Fleming reveals the dark power relations currently shaping the post-industrial system. This deep dive into the post-industrial pit explains the failure of capitalism in terms of its most contagious symptoms, including micro-jobs, multinational spread, shadow banking, financial predation, the working poor, and government by algorithm. Beset by every malaise of modern economic institutions, from cognitive dissonance to bleak performance metrics and almost deliberate vacuity, no-dimensional man is a living mirror image of the new culture of nothingness characterizing capitalism today.

By: Peter Fleming
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781350441873
ISBN 10: 1350441872
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 20 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Preface: This World We Must Leave Chapter 1: No-Dimensional Man Chapter 2: Point Blank Capitalism Chapter 3: Ex Nihilio Nihil Fit Chapter 4: Gothika Economica Chapter 5: The New Black Chapter 6: Sleep Mode Chapter 7: Necromathmatics Chapter 8: A Requiem for Touch Chapter 9: Void Perfect Conclusion: Negation of the Fittest

Peter Fleming is a Professor in the Management Discipline Group at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Reviews for Capitalism and Nothingness: Critical Theory in Unwanted Times

Splicing genres to brilliant effect, Peter Fleming’s critically fuelled revolutionary pessimism delivers shards of humour in the midst of a world ruined by feckless managers and gormless agents of industry. Capitalism and Nothingness furnishes diagrams of scenario planning grafted to the shadow of the apocalypse. * Ned Rossiter, Professor of Communication and Director of Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia *