Capitalism and the Impoverishment of the Lifeworld

Capitalism tends to frame most aspects of human life in economic terms: human beings are seen as human resources, homes as equity, university degrees as investments, etc. While this has long been a theme for Marxist critique, there is also a phenomenological dimension to this framing that has often been overlooked. The claim I want to explore is whether and how this economic framing can impoverish the experience of the world around us. I call this reduction of the thick meaningful presence of what is to economic value “the impoverishment of the lifeworld.” Thus, this project draws on the resources of phenomenology and Marxist critique to 1) fully articulate the qualitative impoverishment of the lifeworld that underlies the dynamics of capitalism, specifically in the spheres of things and of the social relations whereby such things are exchanged as commodities, and 2) explore modes of critique and resistance designed to counter such forms of phenomenological impoverishment.