SOLARPUNK CONTRA CAPITALIST REALISM

Abstract

Mark Fisher expanded on the concept of capitalist realism as a socioeconomic order which stifles the imagination so deeply that we cannot imagine any alternative to it. To combat capitalist realism, Fisher believed we need an effective critique. If capitalist realism is an ideology, then an effective critique may come from a counterideology. I believe the speculative fiction and art movement known as solarpunk is the utopian premise we need to construct this counter-ideology. This essay will begin to construct a philosophy of solarpunk by primarily thinking of solarpunk as an ideology and showing its many advantages to past utopian conceptions of the future. Following Marx & Engels’ treatment of ideology, Gramsci’s cultural hegemony will also be considered in relation to Fisher’s capitalist realism. Given the concurrent existential crises of climate collapse, economic inequality, depression, and alienation – all of which are exacerbated by the capitalist model – something beyond ‘an effective critique’ is necessary to overcome these challenges. This essay hopes to better understand whether or not solarpunk can meet this challenge to provide a vision of a better future beyond capitalism.