Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the Production of Uselessness

by Neil Vallelly

A proposal for countering the futility of neoliberal existence to build a egalitarian, sustainable, and hopeful future.

If maximizing utility leads to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people, as utilitarianism has always proposed, then why is it that as many of us currently maximize our utility—by working endlessly, undertaking further education and training, relentlessly marketing and selling ourselves—we are met with the steady worsening of collective social and economic conditions? In Futilitarianism, social and political theorist Neil Vallelly eloquently tells the story of how neoliberalism transformed the relationship between utility maximization and the common good.

Drawing on a vast array of contemporary examples, from self-help literature and marketing jargon to political speeches and governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vallelly coins several terms—including “the futilitarian condition,” “homo futilitus,” and “semio-futility”—to demonstrate that in the neoliberal decades, the practice of utility maximization traps us in useless and repetitive behaviors that foreclose the possibility of collective happiness.

This urgent and provocative book chimes with the mood of the time by at once mapping the historical relationship between utilitarianism and capitalism, developing an original framework for understanding neoliberalism, and recounting the lived experience of uselessness in the early twenty-first century. At a time of epoch-defining disasters, from climate emergencies to deadly pandemics, countering the futility of neoliberal existence is essential to building an egalitarian, sustainable, and hopeful future.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Miska · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts off as an interesting project examining what has happened to the utilitarian ideological theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, thanks to the neoliberal turn. Later on, however, I had the feeling that some chapters completely deviate from the original train of thought. There are two standalone chapters which I enjoyed to read (3 and 6).

[Mitchell Chatfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Closer to a high 4 than a true 5 star rating. The conclusion aside from the last line felt like padding and a 80’s sales pitch ‘call to action’. Otherwise quite good

**Thoughts to follow**

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was originally planning to give this book a 1. Not because it’s of an objectively poor quality - it absolutely isn’t - but simply because I found the experience of reading it to be such a slog. This is not a breezy, pop-politics read. It’s an extremely academic book that reads like a philosophy thesis, and you need to go into it prepared for that. I don’t exactly recall how this book wound up on my reading list, but suffice it to say, I was not prepared.

If you’re at all familiar with the territory here, like I was, the first half of the book really drags because it’s essentially a dense historical review and you don’t immediately get a sense of where any of it is going or if the author’s ideas are going to be worth the time investment required to adequately preface them.

Ultimately, I’d say they were worth the investment. Had I started this book beginning with Chapter 3 - just 79 pages in, sure, but the complete book is only 183 long! - I’d have surely rated it a 4. There are some really interesting and novel ideas in here, and when the author hits his stride the book becomes much more readable. The author’s conception of futility (and semio-futility in particular) will absolutely stick with me.

If you decide to tackle this and feel like tapping out early on, I’d say skip ahead to Chapter 3 or 4 (or really any subsequent chapter with an appealing title) and see how you fare.

[dv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ottima riflessione sulle conseguenze del neo-liberismo, costruita con un preambolo che costruisce la storia di utilitarismo e liberismo e poi affronta i diversi aspetti del neologismo "futilitarismo" definito dall'autore. Un punto di vista che si installa bene fra Fisher, Han e l'italiano Ventura.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opinionated and wordy, with some interesting concepts. A little all over the place with its premise and probably could have been edited for clarity.

[Michael McCaughey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it turns out utilitarianism is a Scooby Doo villain and surprise it was Old Man Neoliberalism all along. The first half is a really good survey of utilitarianism: its origins, its development and examples of how the west has continually ignored its many, many economic failures. The second half is more a general, somewhat vague, criticism of neoliberalism. I'm a solidly average-brained smartnik (okay, lower-middle class in the brain suburbs), but I felt that the hypothesis of futilitarianism was never entirely fleshed out and the main focus of the book was showing how neoliberalism has ruined the world. Still, a good recommendation if you're looking for something trying to explain and solve how people are trapped in the meaninglessness of capitalism.

[Joshua Friesen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The editing-if there was any, made it difficult to read. It was all over the place. Bleak.