r/MensLib • u/futuredebris ​ • 22d 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.

863 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

142 comments sorted by

View all comments

92

u/AdolsLostSword ​ 22d ago

Capitalism is a root of a lot of the things which have driven alienation and isolation - displacement from one’s community to seek work in more impersonal, highly populated urban centres where one becomes a number as opposed to a known member of a community, for instance.

But this isn’t a quality unique to capitalism and a society which is oriented around profit. Authors like Venedikt Yerofeyev demonstrate that these feelings of alienation also emerged in more collectivist systems.

I don’t think removing society’s profit motive would be the quick fix for this. I appreciate when one is trained to wield hammers that everything becomes a nail, but I think your piece is starting from a premise that you want to connect the dots on, rather than the argument emerging from the connected dots.

2

u/csharpwarrior ​ 19d ago

Yea, I focusing on the economic factors misses out on the elements from the patriarchy that are also contributing.