Word.ws English Dictionary

capitalist realism

capitalist realism noun: a short-lived German pop art movement of the 1960s.

Noun

capitalist realism (uncountable)

  1. A short-lived German pop art movement of the 1960s.
    • Back in West Berlin, Rene Block thought the term 'Capitalist Realism' resonated strongly with other kinds of 'new realism' taking place there, in the shadow of the GDR. In 1971 he used the term again for a show of prints, but disappointedly […]2008, Claudia Mesch, Modern Art at the Berlin Wall: Demarcating Culture in the Cold War Germanys, Tauris Academic Studies
    • Richter's concept of 'capitalist realism' alluded to the doctrines of socialist realism east of the border. These approaches were taken further in the actions of Happening and Fluxus artists in the wake of the student movement.2013, John Sandford, editor, Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture, Routledge, →ISBN
  2. An ideological framework for viewing capitalism and its effects on politics, economics, and public thought.
    • It captures the psychic transformation this generation has gone through: smashing through the glass at Millbank, struggling through the hard lines of the kettle, and finally piercing capitalist realism's façade: an aperture through which now flows […]2011, Dan Hancox, Summer of Unrest: Kettled Youth: The Battle Against the Neoliberal Endgame, Random House, →ISBN
    • With regard to The Wire, this definition has largely revolved around the capitalist realism of society, or the reality that money rules and determines everything.2013, David Bzdak, Joanna Crosby, Seth Vannatta, The Wire and Philosophy: This America, Man, Open Court, →ISBN, page 167

Origin of capitalist realism

Possibly coined in 1963 when it was used as the title of an art exhibition/performance in Düsseldorf, alluding to socialist realism. The term was later reused in a political philosophy context by cultural theorist Mark Fisher.

Questions about capitalist realism

What does capitalist realism mean?
Capitalist realism means a short-lived German pop art movement of the 1960s.
What part of speech is capitalist realism?
Capitalist realism is a noun.

Words near capitalist realism in the dictionary

  1. capitalisms
  2. capitalist
  3. capitalist anarchism
  4. capitalist anarchist
  5. capitalist anarchists
  6. capitalist realism
  7. capitalist roader
  8. capitalist roaders
  9. capitalist roadism
  10. capitalist roadist
  11. capitalistic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: capitalist realism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “capitalist realism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/capitalist_realism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.