🔗 How to Quit Capitalism
The first layer to peel back is the assumption that greed and selfishness are innate human traits that any system must accommodate. In reality, people naturally demonstrate cooperation, compassion, and social responsibility — capitalist competition is what brings out individualistic instincts. Our altruistic nature surfaces when we design systems that appeal to humanity’s ethical core rather than its transactional periphery.
The second layer is the belief that jobs generate, affirm and organise life’s meaning and purpose. Imbalance is inevitable when work governs identity and dictates time allocation across society. People sacrifice relationships and downtime that nurture overall wellbeing. Post-capitalism must diversify sources of purpose across family, hobbies, and community — a richness impossible when working relentlessly to afford basic needs.
The third layer: we assume capitalist hierarchy reflects meritocracy and differences in human potential. In truth, no one works hundreds of times harder than another to “earn” their extra billions. And many capable passions — like caregiving and arts — languish, unable to monetise under capitalism. Hierarchy stems more from privilege and luck than worth or effort. A post-capitalism system must better reward diligence across all socially valuable roles.
Finally, the deepest layer may be the conflation of commodification with progress. We struggle to identify any human need that can’t be financialised for profit. But by commercialising knowledge, relationships, identity, and more, capitalism crowds out intrinsic developmental rewards with extrinsic financial ones — leaving us spiritually and psychologically deprived. Beyond reform, quitting capitalism requires wholly reimagining concepts like innovation and technology outside capitalist logic, even if that vision is hard to see.