Hypercapitalism: The Modern Economy, Its Values, and How to Change Them

by Larry Gonick, Tim Kasser

PAPERBACK ORIGINAL From the bestselling cartoonist of The Cartoon History of the Universe comes an explosively graphic take-down of capitalism

Bestselling “overeducated cartoonist” Larry Gonick has delighted readers for years with sharp, digestible, and hilarious accounts of everything from the history of the universe to the story of calculus. Now Gonick teams up with psychologist and scholar Tim Kasser, an expert on how happiness and values relate to our materialist society, to create an incomparable cartoon guide to what, exactly, is wrong with modern life, why we’re all so miserable—and what can be done about it.

Hypercapitalism is an accessible and pointed cartoon guide to the threats to humans, our society, and the environment posed by the current form of global capitalism. In pointed, profound, and entertaining cartoon narratives, the authors take readers inside the inner workings of the global economy, rendering even the most complex ideas in clear, plain—and sometimes hilarious—terms. A primer for the post-Occupy generation, Hypercapitalism also provides a concise introduction to the thinkers (Stiglitz, Piketty, Sandel, Schor, et al.), movements (voluntary simplicity, the sharing economy, intentional communities, the time-affluence movement), and concepts (hypercapitalism, corporate power, GNP alternatives), that are critical to understanding and changing the world we live in.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Graphic Novels, Politics, Comics, History, Sociology

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2017

About the author

Larry Gonick (born 1946) is a cartoonist best known for The Cartoon History of the Universe, a history of the world in comic book form, which he has been publishing in installments since 1977. He has also written The Cartoon History of the United States, and he has adapted the format for a series of co-written guidebooks on other subjects, beginning with The Cartoon Guide to Genetics in 1983. The diversity of his interests, and the success with which his books have met, have together earned Gonick the distinction of being "the most well-known and respected of cartoonists who have applied their craft to unravelling the mysteries of science" (Drug Discovery Today, March 2005).

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless Larry Gonick, for showing, not just that info comics could be every bit as fun and interesting as action and adventure titles, but that one could actually make a career doing them. I’ve been a fan of his work since the early days of The Cartoon History of the Universe, and I’m always happy to see new work from his capable pen (though I was a bit startled to see that his drawings of himself no longer resemble the mustachioed caricature from the Universe books. He’s gotten older, I suppose, as have we all.)

In this book, he joins forces with psychology professor,Tim Kasser, to present a look at how capitalism has evolved to its present form, as well as a number of strategies that individuals can use to work to change it assuming that's what they want to do. The book isn’t really a strident call to action. It presents information, but leaves the choice of what to do with it up to the reader. That said, the portrait of hypercapitalism--basically plain old capitalism run amok--is not a pretty one, or at least I didn't find it so.

The book is divided into two parts. The first presents the history and underlying psychology. The second offers suggestions as to how we can move forward. As presented, the first part is fairly grim; the second, more hopeful. I was particularly struck by the Epilogue. Kasser mentions teaching a class, “Alternatives to Consumerism.” Students would come to it having studied the modern economy, a course prerequisite, feeling “... pessimistic and hopeless … They seemed fairly beaten down--at age 20.” But during the course, he would see the attitude shift to one of hope, and gives a good example from one memorable session. This book is like that: fairly grim and discouraging at first, but ultimately positive and hopeful.

Even if, at the end of the book, you decide that your own values are perfectly in harmony with those of hypercapitalism--not my own experience, to be sure, but, hey, it takes all kinds--the book at least helps ensure that your decision is an informed one. Real change, if it happens, will only come about from choices made on the individual level, and certainly won't happen overnight. This book plants a seed. How and whether you nurture it is your own choice. Highly recommended!

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite nice. Just by chance I read it at the same time as The Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel. I recommend that one only for the graphics, but this one has more recommendable content. Both books point out that unrestrained capitalism can lead to some bad outcomes, including exploitation of workers and destruction of the environment. But while CM recommends overthrowing capitalism, to replace it with something only vaguely specified, this book recommends more modest proposals. Capitalism has many benefits and should be kept. But governmental or societal restraints should be placed on it such as, for example, don't let companies advertise drugs to kids*; don't let companies evade taxes by pretending their profits come only from some other, conveniently low-tax country, etc. And even when large-scale political solutions seem far away, you can control your own behavior: for example, don't go into debt buying things you don't even want from organizations you don't like.

*That is my exaggerated example, not one from the book, which talks only of advertising toys and food to children.

[KRKO · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great intro to the problems of capitalism and how it infects near all aspects of contemporary life (from global politics to personal fulfillment). There's a nice overview of various facets of capitalism with supporting statistical evidence of how bad things have gotten.

However, while it's a nice overview, Gonick almost intentionally seems to disregard any cultural theory or political economy theory. This seems like a terrible oversight, considering discussions of the problems of capitalism have been happening for well over 100 years - not just since it reached this "hyper" state.

Gonick discusses things like worker unfairness and the wealth gap, but doesn't outright call it exploitation or have many overt discussions of the class conflict at play within capitalism.

This leads to Part II of the book, wherein Gonick proposes we follow rules of what one may consider "Ethical Capitalism." However, this runs against the fact that he just spent 3/4ths of the book laying out why this system is inherently flawed and built for personal - and global - destruction. His solution then is to consume in a way where you feel better about yourself as a means to feel more comfortable under capitalism. It's a very neoliberal take that just doesn't hit the mark.

Perhaps Gonick shied away from any strong theoretical discussion as not to deter any readers, but I think in doing so it hinders this book's overall effect. Still, there is a lot of good info in here that's easily digestible - and some of his recommendations are worthwhile - but it just may not go as far as some readers would like.

[Ulysses · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stars for the content, and an extra star for the good intentions. Probably most useful as gateway reading for people who have a vague awareness that the modern economy isn't adding up but haven't really thought about why, or about how to resist it.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors are preaching to the choir on this one.

It is a good primer on capitalism (both pros and cons) and it's twisted offspring "hypercapitalism." Part II looks at ways to combat our current economic system.

[raafi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seperti sedang disadarkan di sistem sosial mana saya berpijak saat ini. Penjelasannya amat komprehensif meskipun tidak begitu dalam. Dua bagian tentang hal-hal jahat-yang bikin sakit hati-bikin tak berdaya dan hal-hal baik-yang bisa dilakukan-inspirasional dijabarkan secara setara. Membacanya seperti melihat fakta menyakitkan sekaligus memberi pengharapan.

[Povilas Balciunas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd recommend everyone to read this book.
It explains how modern western economy works and discusses how we can do better :)

[Camellia Schwartzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally read this book and I’m very glad that I did. It is very well done. I know Tim Kasser and Knox College well and I went to his talk before this book was published. I loved all of the graphs, charts, and info that he talked about. It was put simply and was a long read even though it is a graphic novel. The first half made me very pessimistic but the second half made me feel very optimistic. It also made me question why do I feel the need to buy something?? What do I value money at? Many deep questions and more!!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering yet clearly and carefully explained look at how hypercapitalism came to be and how it conflicts with humans' internal values of universalism and benevolence. But the important powerful message of how hypercapitalism is merely a social system amongst many and that it can change if many people individually and collectively work to bring about change, wherever they are and however they can, rings clearly towards the end.

[Wendy Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly funny! And trust me, you'll need a few laughs after this discussion of how capitalism works and how it affects people's psychology. Luckily, the last section of the book has some suggestions for how normal folks can help reign in the beast. Pretty inspiring stuff!

[Sivasothi N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lary Gonick draws and explains marvellously and this time he teams up with someone who has taught and researched topic for decades. Excellent book with hopeful suggestions and a great reference list.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent excellent read. Tells the story of capitalism, connects it to human psychology, and gives strategies to firm grassroots economies at the end. As a follower of Jesus, I heartily commend this work!

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. Very informative if a bit too brief in some aspects I care about and a bit too long winded in other aspects I don't care about.

[Kiona Meade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read and some great advice on how to reduce hypercapitalism and increase happiness!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hypercapitalism, Larry Gonick and Tim Kasser, 2018, ISBN 9781620972823

In graphic novel form, this book attempts nothing less than an accessible explanation of capitalism. It also shows how present-day worship of markets harms a person's well-being and the planet's health.

The five commandments of hypercapitalism are: Thou Shalt Consume, Thou Shalt Operate Globally, Thou Shalt Not Regulate, Thou Shalt Spend Less on Labor and Thou Shalt Privatize. How can the average person afford all this consumption when wages have generally stagnated over the past couple of decades? The answer is: credit cards, the overall debt of which is about $700 billion. That does not include student loan debt, which is another trillion dollars. Are obsessed consumers really happier than the average person, or do they get a momentary "high" from their purchase?

Is there anything the average person can do about it? Before buying, here are some questions to ask yourself. Can I afford it? Do I need it, or do I want it? Will it improve my life? What company makes it? There are tool banks and seed banks and time banks, where such items can be shared. If your town or neighborhood does not have one, consider starting it. Get to know your local library. It is possible for a business, like an employee-owned business or a non-profit, to be more socially responsible than average. For some people, more direct methods are the way to go. These include boycott/buycott, advocating for a better deal for workers and publicly funded political campaigns or taking to the streets and protesting.

This book deserves six stars. It is very easy to read, and does a wonderful job at explaining capitalism, even for those who "hate" capitalism. It also gives a number of alternatives that anyone can adopt. This is extremely highly recommended.

[Alison Whiteman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cartoons are great, there is a great deal of humor and if you like, one can color the book. Seriously, though, this book explains clearly why hyper-capitalism is not sustainable to the earth, or to the well-being of human relationships.

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great and easy-to-read summation of what's wrong with the American economy today, how the grow-or-die capitalism that will eventually consume the planet and destroy humankind right along with it. There's only about 1% of us who can sluff off such a message cuz, no matter what happens, at least they'll be rich. Gonick and his co-author Tim Kasser spell it out for us in smart, witty, well-drawn panels. It's ground that Chris Hedges has covered before, and it's pretty grim.

Gonick and Kasser give us possible solutions to the problem -simple living, resistance to corporations, public protest- but one is left with the feeling that it's too little too late. We're barreling headlong into disaster and it seems impossible to stop this train. Our current President is hardly one to lay the restrictions on big business that we really need. I don't expect the next one to be that person either.

[Scribe Publications]

Like fish who don’t know they live in polluted water (because it’s everywhere), many people don’t know they live in economically, socially, and politically polluted societies. Hyper-Capitalism, in lucid prose and delightful graphics, pulls back the curtain with crystal clarity. I can’t think of a better book for young people to read as they chart their futures.
Barry Schwartz, Author of The Costs of Living, The Paradox of Choice, and Why We Work

This book explains much about how the world works, and why it increasingly doesn’t. Read it soon, before we lose any more ice caps.
Bill McKibben, Author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy

A clear and concise description of how the market economy functions, why it encourages the worst aspects of human nature, and how we can cope in an age of excess.
John Gowdy, Professor of Economics and Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

A great introduction to the current state of the economy and what can be done about it, and a solid addition for Gonick’s many fans.
Library Journal

A timely counter to those who celebrate predatory economics as the best of all possible financial worlds.
Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Larry Gonick
Larry Gonick should get an Oscar for humour and a Pulitzer for history.
Richard Saul Wurman, Author and Creator of the Ted Conference

A truly unique, page-turning graphical account … Gonick and Kasser pull off the monumental feat of rendering an otherwise dry and complex social-economic topic as clear, entertaining, informative, and even hilarious in spots. Hyper-Capitalism is a remarkable, essential and hopeful book for our times. To embrace and act upon its message is to live better.
Nomi Prins, Author of All the Presidents’ Bankers and It Takes a Pillage

[Keen Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Reagan froze the minimum wage for 8 years, during which time inflation eroded its value by a third. Bush II did the same. The wage rose slightly under both Clinton and Obama, but its purchasing power is still lower than at any time between 1956 and 1985.”

This book can make for dark and depressing reading at times and yet throughout the duration the authors manage to maintain a playful, funny, provocative and insightful air that works really well to get the message across. This is a delightful read that isn’t afraid to tackle the darker aspects of capitalism and the politics around it, but still we get the sunny side too as they show that there are many ways to combat hyper-capitalism. It’s laden with plenty of powerful quotes and inspirational people that help guide us towards ways of turning despair into hope.

There were many compelling revelations in here, like the experiment carried out by Kathleen Vohs, who wanted to find out if money orientated minds behaved differently from people who were thinking about something else. Each participant was asked to put a few scrambled words in order, half were given phrases about money, the other half got neutral phrases. Each participant then went into a private room with a form to fill out. At this point came an interruption, the researchers brought in a new person to share the room. Once settled the newcomer began asking questions about the form. The confused newcomer was a plant and part of the experiment. The object was to compare how helpful the money-primed participants were in relation to the neutrally primed ones. Her neutrally primed participants spent an average of 150 seconds helping the person whereas the money primed subjects averaged only 67 seconds.

Another Vohs experiment involved a set-up where each primed subject was given $2 in quarters and then asked to donate a portion to charity. The money primed average donation was 77 cents and the neutral average $1.34. She also discovered that money primed subjects kept a greater physical distance between themselves and others, and were also more likely to work alone.

There is no shortage of despairing revelations that reveal the true priorities of the people in charge of modern America, like when the API (American Petroleum Institute) formed a panel of senior scientists back in the 70s and by 1980 they had enough evidence to see the amount of damage that fossil fuels would have on the planet, initially they wanted to cut emissions, change refining technology and move to alternative fuels, until they saw the costs involved. The project was disbanded, and instead they created the Global Climate Coalition, which focused on their corporate goals. Since the 1990s the GCC has suppressed scientific findings, created bogus scientific organisations to spread doubt, mis-information, as well as smearing individual scientists and of course heavily investing in politicians to derail various emission regulations.

In the 70s in the US, the FTC proposed a ban on advertising at children under 8 years old. Toy companies, cereal makes and candy producers soon joined forces with TV broadcasters mounting a multi-million dollar lobbying effort under the aegis of “American values”. In the end President Carter signed into law the FTC Improvements Act of 1980 which barred the FTC from regulating advertising.

We see the purpose of trade tariffs and what can happen when they are removed. Like the case of the Haitian government, who had to put a 30% tariff on imported rice in order to stop their own rice growers from going bankrupt. In the 90s Haiti asked for an emergency loan from the IMF and the Clinton government only allowed the loan to go ahead if Haiti agreed to get rid of the tariff. They had no other option and so the island was swamped with cheap imports, much of it coming from Clinton’s home state. The rice farmers eventually lost their land.

We see that in spite of numerous catastrophic results of hyper-capitalism such as the Savings and Loan Crisis, which cost the US government $124 billion and then Bill (wolf in sheep’s clothing) Clinton repealing of the Glass Steagall Act, a succession of US governments continues to resist any idea of regulation, seemingly content to ignore its devastating effects on millions of people.

In the 90s a group of American retailers, politicians and lobbyists came up with a plan to set up business in the remote outpost of the Marianas Islands. They enticed Chinese companies to open sewing factories, where garments would get special tax treatment and also carry MADE IN USA labels. Companies involved included Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and GAP. When the scandal broke in 2002, the US senate voted to end the scam but the House of Representatives speaker, Tom Delay, refused to call a vote, calling the set up, “A perfect petri dish of capitalism.”

Apparently all countries in the world but three (Suriname, Papua New Guinea and the USA) require employers to give new mothers (and sometimes fathers) paid leave, usually 14 weeks, but in some cases longer. The US standard is 12 weeks of unpaid leave. What exactly is the point in having the strongest economy in the world when you cannot even offer your own citizens paid parental leave?...

Towards the end of the book we have some examples of people who have tried to live their lives in different ways, in a bid to escape the dreaded ‘work and spend’ cycle. People like Thoreau at Walden and others are mentioned. I was taken by the story of Helen and Scott Nearing, who moved to a farm in Vermont in the late 1930s, whilst living there, each day they would dedicate four hours to growing cash crops and other chores, four hours on ‘bread labour’ building their stone house by hand and four hours on pursuing intellectual and cultural pursuits. Both lived into their nineties.

This was an excellent read. The anger and frustration of the authors comes through, but so do the passion and the concern and more importantly their determined optimism. Each of their ideas and concepts is well explained with clear definitions and no mumbo jumbo, the graphics function really well and help to amplify the meaning, making this is a clever yet chilling piece of work.

[Dana Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Just the overview of capitalism is worth the price of admission and the references section is outstanding. I do wish that part II were a little more fleshed out, but there are entire books on that.

[Robert J D · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Extensive research shows, the more people & societies prioritize materialistic values, less they care about promoting well-being, fair treatment of others, & environment sustainability." As most US businesses continue "to carry on as usual, overselling their stuff, pumping up profits, holding down wages, dodging taxes & regulations"...making Americans "less happy & satisfied, and more depressed & anxious."

[David Grassé · Rating 5 out of 5]

An indictment of the modern corporatist/capitalist system in the form of a fun, entertaining, and informative graphic novel. However, this book is much more than an extended harangue against the capitalist system. This book also offers suggestions and recommendations for undermining, circumventing, and even changing the system for the better.
Highly recommended for all ages!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, really depressing at times, excellent resources and citations.

[CTEP]

If you were to go back in time to explain how companies can recommend products to purchase using as established information network to someone 50 years ago, they'd say it'd make sense...in Star Trek. Even just explaining phones, email and other tech to users today can be challenging. Adding our consumer impulses to all this technology is daunting too as people grapple with instant buying via Amazon, media through iTunes and other online apps that offer instant satisfaction to get what we want. Capitalism might be a basic label for our economic system yet it's obvious that our current system is much more complicated and, at times, exhausting to grasp. Author and cartoonist Larry Gonick and Tim Kasser, professor of psychology at Knox College in Illinois, have teamed up to explain our modern economy in a visual, fun way along with tips for what people can do in "Hypercapitalism: The Modern Economy, its Values, and How to Change Them."

The first part of the book explains the basics of capitalism itself and how our economic structure has grown so complicated. Capitalism is broken down into various pieces such as capital, gains, expenses and other concepts and the chapter builds additional concepts such as shareholders, insurance and other business related terms. Kasser also takes the time to explore consumer values in the US and overseas and how that ties into happiness, conformity and other values. It's after this part that Kasser explores just how much, or little, corporations today reflect our common interests.

The second part of the book go through the phenomenon labeled "hypercapitalism", capitalism on steroids, or our modern conspicuous culture of consumption. Gonick and Kasser explore the global tangle in which corporations affect people, workers, governments and the environment. This part gets a bit complicated as it explores the "Five Commandments of Hypercapitalism", some of which include "Thou Shalt Consume" and "Thou Shalt Globalize".

The third part then shows options for how people can resist our hypercapitalistic overlords. Some solutions seem easy: using a library for getting resources, buying fair trade products, knowing where one's food comes from/buying local. Others included more in-depth research such as responsible investing, time banks, and divestment campaigns.The next part goes over how people can take back their governments, both local and national, to better enforce people's interests over those of corporations. This includes publicly funding campaigns, raising the minimum wage and protesting. A lot of these ideas have been gaining steam in recent years with Bernie Sanders (and now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York) campaigning for the people, workers striking for raising the minimum wage, and movements that can be quickly organized via social media. I'm happy to see the last part of this book impacting our lives every day!

I enjoyed reading this book since it explained economic concepts, long tucked away since high school economics class, in an engaging way. Some of the illustrations do have the 1980s Cold War style and some of the puns/jokes are kind of a miss, but these points are minor. I think getting a gently used copy of this book would be a great addition to anyone's library as a quick reference to consumer economics as well as remember links to resources mentioned in part three.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good overview of the ways in which our modern capitalist society has "over-reached" from its original goals and has morphed into a sort of values-destroying monster (represented in the book, appropriately, as a big bug monster). The first few chapters talk about how capitalism was originally intended to work, then it briefly talks about the key points that encouraged the formation of "hypercapitalism" in modern society. The authors go over what the key differences between hyper and normal capitalism and how it pushes the continual erosion of more traditional community-oriented values, then they end things off with a bunch of examples of the ways in which people are trying to push back against hypercapitalism and preserve what intrinsic values they can. Each topic is heavily cited from academic sources with an impressive bibliography at the back, and the explanations are all straightforward to the point that there's clearly not much fudging going on to make capitalism look any different than it is.

I've only read one other Gonick book, and this one seems far better. The art carries meaning that helps communicate the ideas wonderfully, the humour hits a bit closer to home, and in spite of being a blatantly prescriptive book it never manages to feel preachy. It's largely a statement of what the problems are, why they're problems, what's causing them, and how you can contribute to dealing with them. Very straightforward, which greatly helps the message.

My one major complaint is that Kasser and Gonick seem to miss that, while hypercapitalism might not have been the intent of capitalism, it was the natural result. Money naturally flows to the owners through their business profits, and since everything in society is dealt with by money the business owners naturally accumulate more power to do things. They then use this power to maintain their power, and we end up with all the lovely examples in this book of how businesses lack any sort of morality. Not that there aren't exceptions, but it's telling that this book spends a couple hundred pages on how the system is broken and under ten on how a few businesses try to do things a better way. In the end, it still seems to think that big business can be the solution to the problems that big business continues to cause.

On the whole, I think this is a good book for anyone to pick up who hasn't thought too much about how the capitalist society they live in affects the way they live. It goes over the issues with society and what individuals can do about it very well. The authors just seem to stop a half-step from being critical enough of how broken the system is and it feels a bit too soft as a result.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came across this at a comic book store and it was right up my alley. For the past few years, I've realized that capitalism is the problem with world and especially in America. Can't wait until it collapses. I'll be dead by then, but my daughter won't be.

This book is interesting because it's basically an essay in comic form. Would I have read it if it was just an essay? Probably not. Would have made for a great YouTube video though.

I wouldn't say this is necessary reading, but you need to start somewhere in realizing that capitalism is creating all the problems. And this is a great place to start. I like how there's references pages so if you wanted to delve deeper you could.

My biggest problem with this essay is the term they use. Hyper-Capitalism. Why that term? Capitalism is working just as it's supposed to by calling it this term, they make it seem as if capitalism in itself is good. When it's clearly not. It's like hyper-capitalism and capitalism are two different things, when they're not.

I also don't know if the how to change it section will work? I lean towards no and go with the more burning the system to the ground approach. It's too far gone for anything else. But what bothered me for the book is that when I went to check out some of the sites, they don't exist anymore. Guess that approach isn't working.

I wouldn't mind reading more of these books because I like the form (I love comics), and if I want to get into the weeds I can.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has never taken an economics class, this book was pretty helpful, although I didn’t end up feeling hopeful about battles against capitalism.

While the text was useful in presenting new information and building on it, I found the illustrations pretty bad. They weren’t particularly well done, but more importantly, the authors have “a note on gender, ethnicity, and cartoons” to open the book where they explain “a cartoon book ...must use specific characters to represent those different economic actors, and every character must be a particular person... we urge the reader not to read anything in to these gender and racial assignments. We by no means intend to imply that consumers are typically white females... for example. We were forced to make choices, and we know that our choices were necessarily imperfect.”

I don’t agree with the premise that any role needed to be represented by one gendered character. Make characters non-human, a la Sesame Street, or non-gendered, or just use tools of cartooning like a uniform or label for every role! In a book about, and critical of, capitalism, I would prefer if the passive and mindless consumer, who says “I KNEW there was a reason I always hated arithmetic” (p 85), were not relentlessly presented as female.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a breezy little introduction to modern American capitalism. It does a good job explaining terms and other parts focus on a bit of history and the tensions between all the competing interests of owner, workers, shareholders, consumers, and government. The most interesting aspect of the book looked at the societal values and the work of Shalom Schwartz and people who followed his research. America is such an outlier in its values that make it far more enraptured with the greatest extremes of capitalist excess. A chart showing the prevalence of the words "citizen" and "consumer" was particularly illustrative in the shift of values to materialism over the 20th Century in America.

The author does spend a fair portion of the book looking at varieties of small actions that can try to shape future values. It's a nice palette cleanser after all the doom and gloom of the wealth inequality, human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and rapacious greed.

[Naeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very effective introduction to capitalism -- the only one of about the 10 or so I have read. It has humor, it simplifies without losing the essentials, it has an excellent section on the every day forms of socialism and anarchy that oppose capitalism. I would consider it for an introductory course. But it has one fatal flaw: it demonizes capitalism whereas what I need is an understanding that capitalism has an ethical pull and draw.

If falls short on the structural conditions of historical capitalism (almost no mention of the Scottish Enlightenment's most important contributions and very little reference to Marx), in underestimating the pull of capitalism for everyday people, even those who protest it, in promoting the psychological aspects of responses to capitalism, and in overplaying the effectiveness of protest.

Nevertheless, I read it in about four hours. I would consider reading it again.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of capitalism as it’s “supposed” to work, the beast that is “hyper capitalism”, and ways in which we can resist or try to change the system as it currently exists. “Hyper Capitalism” is an excellent introduction to those unfamiliar with these topics and inspired some hope in me as an individual trying to participate less in the rat race, rat fuck, whatever rat analogy works best for you.
The creators end the book with the hope (it seems) that we as consumers and citizens can apply the right pressure to make a new and better form of capitalism.
While I admire their idealism and may recommend this book to others among the many things one can do to rage against the machine, this reader remains skeptical that (and this is me being slightly pithy if not pretty close to where I land on this books “solutions”) co-ops, simple living, and protesting bad corporations will ever truly alter the vicious cycle we’re stuck within in a meaningful way.
3.5/5