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Capitalism: how the system shapes the way we think

Apocalyptic populism

From Donald Trump to Brexit, the establishment is under fierce attack. But political populism is not simply a challenge to the neoliberal order – it is a product of it, writes Wendy Brown.

Political, personal and social relations are rendered by neoliberal reason in market terms, everything, from learning to eating, becomes a matter of speculative ­investments – ranked, rated, balanced in your portfolio. And democracy itself is devalued and transformed.

‘‘The market gives the illusion of being egalitarian’’

JP O'Malley interviews David Harvey, a leading expert on the work of Karl Marx.

There is the apocalyptic kind of thinking that says: capitalism is going to fall apart tomorrow. I don’t think that is the case. It’s more likely that the future of the world is going to look like what happened to Greece: where we are all going to be pinned down and made to pay out and suffer for the sins of the 1 per cent.

The end of work as we know it?

The idea of what employment really means has undergone radical changes. Now, some thinkers are questioning whether it should exist at all, writes Rhian E Jones.

As work becomes more uncertain and unstable, and workers variously resist, subvert or adapt to new conditions, might it be possible to reject them altogether?

Warp-speed capitalism

The latest sci-fi imagines what society will look like if we colonise space. Yiannis Baboulias explores a universe in which might is right and there are no good guys.

Swiped away

Joana Ramiro asks: in the era of commercial dating apps, is the easy availability of sex dehumanising the experience?

The Winter 2017 issue of New Humanist is on sale now! Subscribe here for just £27 a year.

Also in this issue:

Wade
  • What's behind the violence in Myanmar? Francis Wade reports on the religious roots of a humanitarian crisis
  • Massimo Pigliucci argues that the ancient philosophy of Stoicism is uniquely suited to the modern world
  • An abusive polygamous cult in the US is finally being challenged – but what happens if its members refuse to see themselves as victims? Rebecca Kenna reports
  • Samira Ahmed on decolonising university reading lists and the backlash against diversity
  • The Mosuo, a culturally isolated community in south-western China, are as close as we can get to a matriarchal society, writes Angela Saini. What can we learn from them?
  • Niki Seth-Smith looks at how novelists are imagining English identity in a time of change
  • James Poulter explores how the online culture wars gave birth to the alt-right – and why it needs to be challenged
  • Leading biologist Lewis Wolpert explains how the fear of death gave birth to religion
  • Marcus Chown pays tribute to the Cassini space probe
  • Jonathan Rée reviews Patricia Lockwood's memoir Priestdaddy
  • Columns from Michael Rosen and Laurie Taylor; the latest developments in biology, chemistry and physics; cartoon by Grizelda; book reviews; cryptic crossword and Chris Maslanka's quiz

New Humanist is published four times a year by the Rationalist Association, a 132 year-old charity promoting reason, science and secularism. Our journalism is fiercely independent and supported entirely by our readers. To make a deeper commitment, why not donate to the Rationalist Association?