What is "capitalist time" and why should you care?

It wasn't always clocks and time zones and daylight saving time

For some reason, every time I open my mouth about capitalism on the internet, people get really riled up in the comments. I’ve grown used to it, and even leveraged that rage to grow a following on Threads, but for the longest time I was amused and slightly befuddled by this behavior.

As I’ve educated myself more and more on capitalism and its roots and how it has taken shape to become what it is today, this behavior has become less confusing to me. Because one of the core ideologies underscoring capitalism is the concept of forever.

The absolutism that comes with capitalism and its demands is very, very certain that things can last forever—including capitalism itself. Capitalism also relies upon claims of what “human nature” really is: greedy and violent and always seeking more. To pursue profit by any means necessary is to be human, according to capitalism.

So if I say that this thing that we’ve been culturally and systematically indoctrinated to believe is the ultimate system (ultimate in its truest sense here, as in “the last”) which most accurately reflects and supports mankind’s very own essential nature, of course that’s going to threaten some folks’ views on reality.

But what got me thinking even further was this concept of forever and absolutism and totality and ultimacy, and how effective an ideology like that would be in removing the steam from anyone’s search for an alternative system. If capitalism supposedly supports the best and most enterprising facets of humanity, who would dare oppose it?

If you know anything beyond the surface level about anti-capitalism, you know that this movement isn’t necessarily brand-new. But the shapes it’s taking definitely are. And in a world where our time has become increasingly commodified, it’s worth exploring the ways that “capitalist time” influences our scope on reality.