The Ruins of Capitalism and Possibilism

Beyond Homo Faber

Vando Borghi (University of Bologna, Italy)

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English

Routledge
27 August 2025

Social & political philosophy; Social theory; Political science & theory; Marxism & Communism; Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies

Series: Critiques and Alternatives to Capitalism

This book explores two themes in connection with contemporary capitalism: infrastructural capitalism as the most advanced phase of a modernity, of which the “workman” or homo faber is the embodiment, who exists within an infrastructure whose logic of connectivity is aimed at value extraction; and a landscape of ruins – in the form of symbolic misery, the Anthropocene and a process of refeudalisation – that the homo faber has been piling up around himself as a result. In response to this dynamic, the author elaborates a social, cultural and political project – a “design hope” of both material and immaterial dimensions – that adopts the perspective of possibilism: an outlook that eschews ever greater social and environmental costs in the name of future “development” but seeks a logic of reproduction based on a real politics of care in the form of generalised social action. The Ruins of Capitalism and Possibilism will therefore appeal to scholars of social and political theory with interests in critiques of capitalism and alternative futures.

By: Vando Borghi (University of Bologna Italy)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 390g
ISBN: 9781032606583
ISBN 10: 1032606584
Series: Critiques and Alternatives to Capitalism
Pages: 120
Publication Date: 27 August 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of figures Introduction Chapter 1. Capitalism and infrastructures: a history of continuities and discontinuities Introduction Chapter 2. Between Globe and Planet. Renewing Kulturkritik in the ruins of capitalism Introduction Chapter 3 - Possibilism: searching for a logic of reproduction, beyond homo faber (Instead of) conclusions Index

Vando Borghi is Full Professor of Sociology of Economic Processes, Work and Organization at the University of Bologna, Italy. He is the co-editor of the Research Handbook on Public Sociology and Workers and the Global Informal Economy.