politics-as-pastime

The transformation of political engagement into ephemeral, participant-focused experiences that fail to challenge broader systemic structures.

1 chapter across 1 book

Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (2015)Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 critiques the contemporary left's reliance on ritualistic protest tactics that yield minimal systemic change despite large mobilizations. It identifies a pattern of repeated resistance followed by apathy, attributing this failure partly to 'folk politics'—a set of intuitive but limiting strategic assumptions that hinder the left's ability to scale up and enact lasting transformation. The chapter also highlights the problematic privileging of affect and emotion over strategic analysis in current political activism.