Capitalism Hits Home: Cruel Optimism

[S04 E05] New

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In this episode of CHH, Dr. Fraad explores the concept of cruel optimism from Lauren Berlant's book. American culture teaches us to look on the bright side. Nonetheless, the blight side of US life is emerging. The media, corporate advertisement-driven as it is, hides the reasons why pandemic and recession blight spreads. People, and particularly men, are driven mad. They reach for their guns to reassert their supremacy. Reflexive optimism turns cruel.


CHH is a @Democracy At Work production. The show addresses the intersection of capitalism, class, and personal lives, and explores what is happening in the economic realm and its impact on our individual and social psychology. Learn more about CHH: https://www.democracyatwork.info/capitalismhitshome

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Dr. Fraad's Recommended Reading List


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“Hennelly brilliantly analyzes our capitalist crises and how individuals cope with them, tragically but often heroically. He helps us draw inspiration and realistic hope from how courageous Americans are facing and fixing a stuck nation.”- Richard D. Wolff

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Showing 1 comment

  • Konstantin Kramarenko
    commented 2021-08-25 15:01:37 -0400
    Thank you for mentioning this. I’m a Jewish person who lived in Ukraine, immigrated to Israel, and now I live in Canada. I spent a year and a half in the US as an exchange student, and it just blew my mind how people in the US were always to blame the individual for any economic failure occurring. It is as if the system can do no wrong. People in Israel, Canada and Ukraine are not nearly this naive.

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