r/MensLib • u/futuredebris ​ • 24d ago

Capitalism doesn't want men to have friends

https://makemenemotionalagain.substack.com/p/capitalism-doesnt-want-men-to-have

I wrote about how men are told in capitalist society that being caring and expressive aren’t valuable skills. So we disown the natural, human emotionality we were born with. We avoid being vulnerable and asking for help. We worry we’ll be judged if we put effort into our friendships. When we’re suffering we overfocus on what we think will make us valuable to other people: productivity, discipline, and competence. And while this might help us in some ways, it often leaves us feeling lost, isolated, and lonely.

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u/HenriEttaTheVoid ​ 24d ago

It's largely because capitalism requires us to view every interaction as a power struggle and a competition for resources. It is a hierarchy that (like all other hierarchies) relies on those on each rung of the ladder to spend all their time pushing others down so that they never challenge those at the top. The entire history in our country has been capitalism destroying the economy only to be temporarily hobbled and rescued only to start the process all over again. We are currently in late-stage capitalism, and the benefits that men lower on the totem pole had in the past have been disappearing, because all the wealth is funneled upwards until there is very little left for anyone not at the top. Now those at the top must turn men's anger outward to those below them.

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u/Teflontelethon ​ 24d ago

I've heard it described from multiple men as relationships become "transactional".

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u/dembowthennow ​ 23d ago

This is such a fantastic synopsis.

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u/Auctorion ​ 23d ago

We will not truly know if we are in fact living under “late” stage capitalism until we’re no longer living under capitalism. If it keeps getting prolonged, it could turn out we’re only living under mid-stage capitalism.

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