Dreaming Capitalism: How Our Memories and Realities Are Shaped by Ideology

What if the reality we live in is less solid than it appears? Mark Fisher’s concept of capitalist realism draws on psychoanalytic theory to suggest that capitalism operates like a collective dreamwork, weaving a consistent narrative that masks contradictions and fractures memory. This dreamlike social reality shapes not only our perceptions but also our identities and political possibilities.

Capitalist realism produces a confabulated consistency, a story that convinces us capitalism is inevitable and alternatives are unimaginable. This process suppresses contradictions and creates a collective forgetting, fragmenting memory and disrupting coherent political narratives.

Films and cultural narratives featuring amnesia and identity loss resonate deeply because they mirror our collective experience of disjointed time and political impasse. The decline of public intellectualism and the rise of interpassive media consumption contribute to a culture that is risk-averse and infantilized, limiting critical engagement.

Yet, recognizing these mechanisms offers a path to awakening. By understanding how capitalist realism shapes our memories and dreams, we can begin to reclaim agency and imagine new futures beyond the current ideological constraints.

This blog synthesizes psychoanalytic and cultural studies perspectives, drawing on Fisher’s work and contemporary critiques available on nosiarch.wordpress.com and Blinkist summaries.

For those interested in the psycho-political dimensions of capitalism, this exploration provides rich insights and hopeful possibilities. 2 4