From Marx & Philosophy Review of Books:
About the reviewer, Edward Langley:
Edward Langley is studying for a PhD on meaningful work at the University of Sussex’s Centre for Global Political Economy
Neil Vallelly’s outstandingly original and accessible book, Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the Production of Uselessness, begins by tracing the historical relationship between utilitarianism and neoclassical economics, but throughout the majority of the book Vallelly focuses on the question of how and why contemporary neoliberalism has become a system predicated on futility. Its aim is a ‘critique of everyday neoliberal life’ (19).
To achieve this bold and comprehensive aim, timely questions concerning the realities of modern work, the ways in which we self-market ourselves, as well as the future of humanity’s existence on an uninhabitable planet are interrogated through the concept of futility. Introducing novel terms such as the ‘futilitarian condition’ and ‘homo futilitus’, Vallelly sketches how neoliberalism has transformed our relationship to the economy by detaching the process of utility-maximisation from the common good....
....MUCH MORE
There is a very good chance I will purloin the term ‘homo futilitus’ should the current market downturn persist past Wednesday.
