Criticism of capitalism – those at the table and those on the floor

In the estate society, places were distributed at birth. The fact that a farmer’s daughter could become queen is a fairytale story. At best, she might marry into the house of a richer farmer. The focus was on securing livelihoods. Establishing oneself within class boundaries was part of the ideology of feudalism; sweeping them away was the goal of bourgeois revolutions. The phrase “rags to riches” arose in connection with the “American Dream” – as a stimulus for a meritocracy that focused on freedom, personal responsibility, competition, hard work and success, although the propagated equal opportunities were not the case was and is far away. Personal dissatisfaction is programmed. And it is exacerbated by the nagging feeling of having to bear responsibility for everything.

In this respect, the present volume refers to a perfidious mechanism: “self-blame” in order to distract “from social grievances and power relations”. »In the 21st century, the cult of the individual has reached a temporary peak, which promises freedom, but above all creates paralyzing remorse and hysterical finger-pointing at the alleged guilt of others. Anyone who is free has also freely chosen their misery.« Ideology criticism at its best, which is divided into 13 personal essays – very different in topic and tone.

Today the following applies: “Whoever is free has also freely chosen his misery.”

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It begins with “rise stories”: Sarah-Lee Heinrich can deregister her entitlement to Hartz IV. She has found a mini apartment and is going to study. Your text was created from a distance. The experience of poverty is still present and can be examined in detail, but out of the relief of no longer feeling humiliated by it. She achieved something for herself – and for the others? But what do I want?

It’s probably the rule: the deeper someone is in existential distress, the more urgent their concern for themselves becomes. The fact that it is in the spirit of the oppressive system to declare an individualistic competition of everyone against everyone as the norm, this realization does not help those who have to prove themselves in this elbow-to-elbow society. And yet I prefer the texts in the book that take a look at society as a whole. Certainly: “In order to understand our societies, we have to tell ourselves stories,” as Matthias Ubl admits. But, he adds, such “generational myths have been popular since the advent of neoliberalism and have historically literally replaced the criticism of class society.”

“According to the Poverty Report of the General Joint Association 2024, a total of 2.7 million more people lived in poverty in 2022 than in 2006,” writes Christian Baron. »A life in dignity is no longer considered a fundamental right, but rather as an option at the discretion of the elite. That is the only reason why politicians constantly offer volunteer prizes and praise the commitment of the food banks. It distracts from the fact that it is the duty of the state to enable everyone to live a life without poverty. Analytical and wonderfully polemical: the book is worth reading just for the sake of this text. »You don’t acquire a social right by asking the authorities for permission. The French yellow vests are a role model because they have once again taught those in power to fear.”

The rulers and the majorities – that is a question in itself. As are the concepts of the common good, which are so neglected today. If it is currently being trampled on more and more unrestrainedly, after there used to be at least the beginnings of a social market economy (to which the majority of the population would probably like to return), does that now mean that left-wing movements have to give up this idea? What values ​​can be used to justify exploitation from which capital profits! But I will also need nursing staff (hopefully not, but who knows) and that should be affordable.

Can we call the different interests that clash egoisms? Not by linking it with accusations in the sense of ideology: keeping the balance of power outside and shifting everything onto the individuals who are to blame for climate change (Sebastian Friedrich) and who are supposed to submit to a “morality and freedom rhetoric” that “militarization orchestrated” (Wolfgang M. Schmitt). And then there is the requirement to be perfect.

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Anke Stelling has created a great, multi-layered story under the title “Health”. And Dietmar Dath deals brilliantly with the “woken” movement that gained strength after the “compromises of the old capitalist class with the old workers’ movement, which was called the ‘welfare state’,” were abolished. “What is now called ‘identity politics’” is a response to this threat: “The individual is finished anyway. But just join a group, even if it’s one that hasn’t had it easy before, because then you can organize their protection, and therefore yours too.”

In his essay “Social Inequality”, Aladin El-Mafaalani describes how some sit at the table and others on the floor, how promotions and relegations fuel envy and fears and how the “essential glue of social cohesion erodes, namely the promises… of increasing prosperity for everyone, including on the ground, and for solidarity for everyone who needs it.” That’s right: everyone is in competition with each other – those up there and those down there, which I should understand. But it makes me uncomfortable because, despite everything that happened, I still adhere to a socialist ideal, even though I realize that there is a contradiction between the common good and freedom.

Ann-Kristin Tlusty and Wolfgang M. Schmitt: It’s your own fault. Hanser, 255 p., hardcover, €22.

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