I’m sorry in advance for spelling and grammar errors, I am not the best writer. [CW: use of the word ‘insane’ here is about outdated medical norms.]

We always hear about how the West values “freedom” and “the individual” but what does the reality of living under capitalism actually show us?

Freedom of expression:

In the West, we are told we are all free individuals who can express ourselves in any way we choose. But any artist can tell you just how crushing creating under capitalism is. The ruling class (those who employ and pay artists, investors, producers, executives, etc) call the shots, not the artists themselves. Profit is the motive, and they want a safe bet. Forcing artists to “play it safe” stifles creativity. Without the freedom to break boundaries into new horizons, and without the freedom to express themselves (rather they are forced to try and express the desires of a nebulous and fickle “market”), art becomes stale and hollow. People often use the term “soulless” to describe particularly capitalist art, which is an accurate description in my opinion. If art is the perspective and soul of the artist that is shared with the world, art that is made for the market becomes like a fake smile in that respect. Hollow. Some art is still outright banned for theocratic reasons, such as recent book bannings in the US. Thankfully the human drive to create persists, but art under capitalism struggles to be truly free as it claims.

And what of other forms of self-expression? Common anti-communist propaganda depicts people under communist rule as wearing identical grey uniforms, unable to express themselves through fashion (despite all evidence proving otherwise). And what about fashion in the West? From a young age, most countries require people to wear uniforms to even go to school. Even in countries that don’t require school uniforms, once they go to work, ‘lower class’ workers are forced to wear embarrassing uniforms and name tags, and people all rush through business districts wearing near identical suits, drab and colorless. Even in your own time, looking too ‘strange’ or ‘different’ is subtly discouraged, whether it is harder to find a job if you have tattoos, or being socially policed for being too outside the norm. If you have hair too long or short from your assigned gender, or if you have brightly colored hair, or if you wear clothing that is not ‘normal’ for your assigned lot in life, be prepared to be mocked for “trying to be special”, not exactly the talk of a free people. It wasn’t too long ago that such social deviation was deemed ‘insane’ and such people were inflicted with cruel forms of outdated therapy or institutionalized. And this isn’t even going into what people who are not white male cishets still go through to this very day.

Transport:

Americans like to say that the car is a symbol of freedom. Unlike a train which is on a set track and filled with other people, a car is yours to go wherever you want, your way. But what is driving in America actually like? In reality, it’s millions of cars trapped on a freeway, going a predetermined way set by a road, surrounded by others. Only unlike a train, you can’t socialize, and each car is spewing tons more waste per person than a well-maintained train system ever could. If we look at the reality of what is happening, these expensive death traps are anything but free. Anyone stuck in a traffic jam could tell you that if they were being honest.

Work:

In no place is the idea that capitalist societies are free more laughable than in the workplace. The average person living in a capitalist society will spend most of their waking life working to enrich the ruling class. They do so in an environment that can only be described as an authoritarian dictatorship of strict rules, hierarchy, and restriction of autonomy. Many workers are not even allowed to speak freely. Some are given scripts to follow. It is not uncommon for retail workers to be forbidden to even sit. Even failing to force a smile in the presence of customers can be punished. All under penalty of losing their jobs and potential poverty.

The Capitalist Surveillance State:

Interestingly, mass surveillance was once considered something unique to so-called ‘authoritarian communist’ countries, yet privacy is under far worse conditions in the West. Slowly but surely, capitalist countries have become a panopticon, where no one quite knows when they are being watched. Because there is no space where some kind of device isn’t collecting their information. In our world where everyone requires a phone that doubles as a monitoring device in their pocket to take part in daily life, it’s hard to imagine that even CCTV was once controversial here. However, it went ahead anyway, as petty theft was used (as it often is) to justify its implementation. After all, in a capitalist society, the private property of the wealthy is more important than the rights of the common people. Now, everything from online activity, location, photos, and even biometrics are all combined to create a profile of each person. Consent isn’t even possible in such a case, as the devices of others can even provide information. To avoid it would to become a hermit. People have become numb to this, and any questioning is either met with weak resignment to their powerlessness to stop it, or a declaration that “I don’t care if Google knows my search history, at least it’s not the government.”

Unfortunately, under capitalism the government does not lose power, it merely privatizes it. In a way, corporations are the government. They donate, they lobby, they treaten to remove donations or sue if their demands are not met. Under capitalism, business is the government, and their geopolitical and domestic motives are not in the best interest of the people. It’s in the interest of profit. The personal data of civilians can and already has been traded back and fourth between government and corporation, to be used against protests or organization that threatens the ruling class.

Frighteningly, all of these are normalized to the point that a lot of people do not question it, and if they do, are too afraid to fight it.

That is the state of freedom and individuality in a capitalist society.