If you read any progressive highbrow magazine these days, you will come across the terms “late capitalism” and “late modernity.” An article in the Atlantic (May 2017) is titled “Why the Phrase ‘Late Capitalism’ Is Suddenly Everywhere.” A reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement (July 10) refers to “a troubled late modernity.” What does the adjective late mean when it modifies these nouns?
“Late” is an adjective with many meanings. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 12. We say “the late . . . ,” meaning that the person is deceased. (A novel by J. P. Marquand is entitled The Late George Apley.) We speak of a late model car, meaning it’s not very old. We speak of “late Beethoven” when talking about the works he composed towards the end of his life. A musician (or painter or writer) need not be dead in order to speak of his late phase. A writer in the Times Literary Supplement says that the novelist Ian McEwan’s recent work may be “a distinctive late phase.” McEwan is 70.
The following OED definition best approximates what late means when it modifies capitalism: “Occurring or taking place towards the end of a particular event, process, etc.” “Late capitalism” seems to mean that capitalism is nearing its demise. Which of course is nonsense. Market economies—to use a less emotive term than capitalism—are churning along, doing well in countries where there is freedom, the rule of law, and a low level of corruption.
The author of the Atlantic article on late capitalism, Annie Lowrey, would disagree with this assessment. In her view there are many signs that capitalism is in its final stage. She speaks of “the indignities and absurdities of our contemporary economy” and the “tragicomic inanity . . . of contemporary capitalism.”
The author’s overheated rhetoric makes it clear that “late capitalism” is a polemical term, not a descriptive one. Those who use the phrase are usually enemies of capitalism—early, middle, or late. Defining late capitalism, the OED sounds uncharacteristically strident: “characterized by the dominance of multinational corporations, globalization, and consumerism, and as having permeated all areas of social and cultural life.”
Reader—have all the areas of your social and cultural life been “permeated” by late capitalism?
The term “late capitalism” first appeared in Germany around the turn of the 20th century (Spätkapitalismus), but it was made famous by the post-war German philosopher Theodor Adorno. In a speech on late capitalism in 1968, Adorno made a stunningly stupid remark: “The [capitalist] economic process continues to perpetuate domination over human beings.”
In this country, “late capitalism” has been the signature phrase of Fredric Jameson, a Duke University professor and author of Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991). The book is written in impenetrable academic jargon, but we get his drift: Late capitalism is capitalism at its cruelest, but the cruelty is so subtle that people don’t know how much they are being manipulated.
If late capitalism is so bad, why do people try to emigrate to places where capitalism is flourishing? I doubt that anyone is trying to sneak into North Korea or Russia or Venezuela. The World Happiness Report lists the top 10 countries for happiness. They are Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia—all countries with strong market economies.
The notion—common on the left and the right—that Sweden is a socialist country is wrong. The World Economic Forum ranks Sweden as Europe’s leading country for innovation. In 2016, Inc. magazine reported that “in recent years . . . Stockholm has made massive strides in terms of economic growth. Small businesses have become prolific creators of jobs. The city has raised its standards for fostering new talent and implemented new regulatory systems to drive entrepreneurship.” The economic historian Deirdre McCloskey notes that the Swedish government refused to bail out Saab Motors when it went bankrupt. “Nor did the Swedes object when the Chinese bought both bankrupt Saab and solvent Volvo.”
“Late capitalism,” I would argue, is a meaningless phrase. What about “late modernity”? It is not a polemical term like “late capitalism,” but what does it mean? Most observers say early modernity began around 1600. When did late modernity begin and what are its defining characteristics?
Late modernity is often contrasted with postmodernity. Some observers say we live in a postmodern age; others say we live in a late modern age. In a paper entitled “Late Modernity/Postmodernity,” a professor of political science equates late capitalism with late modernity: “Postmodernity is commonly perceived as a stage of late modernity or late capitalism that follows modernity, whereas postmodernism is understood as a theoretical trend that attempts to unsettle a number of key concepts associated with the Enlightenment.” Got it?
To make matters even more confusing, sometimes “modernity” is modified by “high” or even by “liquid.” But I have no time to explain what “liquid modernity” means. I’m late, I’m late for a very important date.
