What Is Neoliberal Capitalism? Three Conceptions for an Anti-Capitalist Psychology of Community

This chapter clarifies the object of the book’s critique, namely, capitalism. Although there are various approaches that we can take when attempting to understand capitalism, I argue for three conceptions: capitalism as (1) a political project, (2) an ideology, and (3) a mode of normative rationality. I then speak to how each of these conceptions relate to one another and insist that an expansive anti-capitalism must consider all three. However, even though we cannot separate out any of these three conceptions from the others, I argue that one of them will always take precedence in anti-capitalist work. Put differently, because anti-capitalism will, regrettably, be unable to take on the totality of capitalism, it is useful to enter into anti-capitalist activism through either politics, ideology, or normative rationality and from here seek to connect with and address other formations of anti-capitalist resistance. My aim is, then, not to argue against or for a specific conception of capitalism, but to engage capitalism in a way that reflects a multitude of conceptions that might be useful for the practice of an anti-capitalist psychology of community. Thus, capitalism (and, in the following chapters, anti-capitalist resistance) is separated into politics, ideology, and normative rationality in ways that are artificial but tactically and analytically useful. The chapter concludes with an account of how capitalism, conceived of in these three ways, has intersected with community psychology and what this means for those who practise what I am calling an anti-capitalist psychology of community.