Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
How capitalism messes up our brains
In-built in the system is the deliberate playing on our fears and insecurity. No wonder we’re left feeling so miserable and conflicted, writes JOHN GREEN

LIVING for so long in a capitalist society, most of us grow up blissfully unaware of how the system distorts our thinking, our behaviour and our general view of life. 

We think that what we experience daily is “normal” but it’s not. 

We have internalised a (im)morality and a set of principles that should be alien to us.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
earthquakes
Books / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America

metamorf
Exhibition review / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation

PARRIQUE
Books / 20 June 2025
20 June 2025

JOHN GREEN applauds an excellent and accessible demonstration that the capitalist economy is the biggest threat to our existence

abundance
Books / 12 June 2025
12 June 2025

JOHN GREEN isn’t helped by the utopian fantasy of a New York Times bestseller that ignores class struggle and blames the so-called ’progressives’

Similar stories
PULLING NO PUNCHES: Activists from the feminist campaign gro
Features / 17 April 2025
17 April 2025

Mountains of research show that hardcore material harms children, yet there are still no simple measures in place

Staff on a NHS hospital ward at Ealing Hospital in London
Editorial: / 16 October 2024
16 October 2024
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC speaking at the TUC
Interview / 7 September 2024
7 September 2024
Ahead of TUC Congress, Berny Torre talks to general secretary PAUL NOWAK about the importance of making sure the first Labour government in 15 years delivers on the New Deal For Workers; reform of the broken universal credit system; and the tragedy of migrants drowning in the Channel
Features / 30 July 2024
30 July 2024
What’s needed are more truly accessible homes, radical reform of the private sector to protect disabled tenants, and a less myopic view of the housing market focused on ‘homeowners,’ argues RUTH HUNT