An Anti-Capital Idea

The kernel of the idea that capital is not exclusively an economic concept, but also a social and a cultural one, has probably been around since Man first began not only to covet his neighbour’s ox, but also to fancy his wife, begrudge him his friends, and envy his whittling-skills; but its theoretical expression has had to wait until society had advanced far enough to sustain the dead-weight of French sociologists, and only then did the idea find full bloom under the care of Pierre Bourdieu:

It is in fact impossible to account for the structure and functioning of the social world unless one reintroduces capital in all its forms and not solely in the one form recognized by economic theory. . . . [C]apital can present itself in three fundamental guises: as economic capital, . . . as cultural capital, . . . and as social capital, . . . [though] it has to be posited simultaneously that economic capital is at the root of all the other types of capital and that these transformed, disguised forms of economic capital, never entirely reducible to that definition, produce their most specific effects only to the extent that they conceal (not least from their possessors) the fact that economic capital is at their root, in other words ― but only in the last analysis ― at the root of their effects.

Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of Capital” (Originally published as “Ökonomisches Kapital, kulturelles Kapital, soziales Kapital”. in Soziale Ungleichheiten (Soziale Welt, Sonderheft 2), edited by Reinhard Kreckel. Otto Schartz & Co., Goettingen, 1983.) p. 242-252 (original emphasis). Translated by Richard Nice.

Cultural capital includes knowledge, skills, talents, and aspects of behaviour such as manners and accent; and it may be seen that possession of a cultural resource that most others do not have (for example, literacy in a largely illiterate society) can bestow high cultural capital. Social capital involves human relationships and group memberships, and it may be seen that possession of a social resource that most others do not have (for example, knowing people in high places), can bestow high social capital.

Now, this is all very well, as sociological ideas go, but the chatter of our intellectuals cannot go for long without broaching the subject of the unequal distribution of capital; and since to them it is a given that inequality is a bad thing, talk soon turns to redistribution. Yet where once – at least since Marx and Engels – redistribution of capital from the haves to the have-nots was thought of almost exclusively in economic terms, it is now increasingly thought of in these social and cultural terms too.

In economic, social and cultural terms, everyone belongs in manifold different ways to both the haves and the have-nots. One may, for instance, have great charm but not a high degree of intelligence; one may have great wealth but no understanding of local government; one may have a decent knowledge of physics but not of diesel engines; one may have a talent for sport but not for writing; and so on. That is to say, one’s possessions are not just physical objects; and it is thus that social and cultural capital includes all those things that you possess that can have some value in society: ideas, intelligence, knowledge, talent, friendships, number of siblings, location, accents, and so forth.

Now, if it happens that an idea prescribes that each person should be equal in all these forms of capital, and thus that the relations to the means of production for these forms of capital must be regulated to this effect – or in other words, that all things, including the making of friendships, the development of abilities, the acquisition of knowledge, and the formation of ideas, must be controlled – then what we have is a prescription for totalitarianism. It does not matter that French sociologists of the calibre of Bourdieu dress it up with talk about freedom from oppression and justice for the oppressed. This talk is just what it always is with French intellectuals: bollix.

We should find rather that the future of anti-capitalism in this extended sense means nothing less than the attempted destruction of life worth living; for just as economic levelling means in practice not the elevation of the wealth of Man, but rather an impoverishment, so cultural and social levelling means a benumbing and a benighting and a bedevilling of his life.