Capitalismo e ideologie della libertà. La libertà oltre il capitale

Abstract

To survive and expand, capitalism has always needed an ideology that would support its project. This was clear for thinkers such as Tönnies, Simmel, Weber, and Sombart who analyzed the transition from traditional to modern society, reflected on the birth of the new capitalist Geist and described the ways of 'imbibing' the societies. The thinker who has deepened the process of widespread diffusion of capitalist rationality and understood how the conception of liberty advocated by the liberals succeeded in settling insistently in our existences is surely Marx. The use of Marxian theory (and successive Marxist theories) on ideology has enabled us to highlight both the rise of an ever-growing capitalism in societies and the shadows of a Marxism increasingly weakened by its winning charge. After describing the changes made in societies following the explosion of consumerism, we have mapped out the framework of the neoliberal theoretical system, capable of further radicalizing the concept of freedom, now becoming 'market freedom'. According to this, individual freedom is at the maximum of profit and inevitably strides with the principle of equality. Our intent therefore becomes to show the existence of a concept of alternative freedom, in which the relationship between freedom and equality is possible. Starting from this assumption and referring primarily to the Gramsci concept of ‘guerra di posizione’, we reflect on the forms of resistance designed over the years and on the possibility of creating new ones by following the ‘Gramsciano model’. [edited by author]