Beyond Distribution: Everyday Life, Democratic Institutions, and the Limits of the Spectacle

Beyond Distribution: Everyday Life, Democratic Institutions, and the Limits of the Spectacle
Brum, Matías. (2026). 6 June. pp. 1-9. (Article - Working Paper; English).

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Alternative Locations

https://capitalaspower.com/2026/06/beyond-distribution-everyday-life-democratic-institutions-and-the-limits-of-the-spectacle/

Abstract or Brief Description

This essay argues that contemporary debates on political economy — however sophisticated in their treatment of inequality, ownership, and power — tend to neglect a decisive terrain of analysis: the organization of everyday life itself. Drawing on the Situationist International’s critique of the society of the spectacle, and applying it to institutional proposals associated with social democracy and market socialism, the essay develops a framework for evaluating reforms not only in terms of distributional outcomes, but in terms of their capacity to expand temporal autonomy, democratic participation, and non-alienated forms of social activity.

The central claim is that proposals such as workplace democracy, universal basic income, shorter working hours, and social ownership of strategic resources should be understood not merely as redistributive mechanisms, but as potential openings — always contingent, always contested — toward democratic control over everyday life. The essay engages critically with the Capital as Power (CasP) framework: while CasP offers powerful tools for analyzing the quantitative dimensions of capitalist power, the Situationist lens developed here suggests that power is also reproduced through the colonization of time, desire, and lived experience — dimensions that resist purely quantitative capture.

Language

English

Publication Type

Article - Working Paper

Keywords

alienation autonomy capital as power capitalism decommodification democracy everyday life power resistance Situationist International workplace

Subject

BN Power
BN Production
BN Resistance
BN Agency
BN Business Enterprise
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Civil Society
BN Class
BN Conflict & Violence
BN Cooperation & Collective Action
BN Culture
BN Industrial Organization
BN Institutions

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

07 Jun 2026 20:59

Last Modified

07 Jun 2026 20:59

URL:

https://bnarchives.net/id/eprint/891

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