On the possibility of morphocide

Can Fossil Capitalism Be Dismantled

Bibliographic Data

ID6434834
AuthorsCosimo Stahl (0000-0003-3310-0895, Linköping University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume24
Issue1
Pages21-36
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Critical Realism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1476-7430 • E-ISSN: 1572-5138
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14767430.2025.2458594
OpenAlexW4407582112
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited30

Society and its social forms develop through the social interactions of various agents. The tempo of such transformations has increased over the last decades, which implies a growing mass of obsolete and dead social forms. One persisting social form whose death is overdue, given its effect on climate change, is fossil capitalism. This article introduces the term morphocide, which is defined as the active ending of social forms and denotes the deliberate dismantling of an existing system to promote the growth of alternatives. Morphocide is discussed in relation to potential strategies for how fossil capitalism may be actively ended, where it is argued that the heart of fossil capitalism is in political bodies with regulatory power, and that it may be dismantled through a combination of political pressure, direct and legal action, and establishing viable alternatives that may be upscaled

Capitalism · Economics · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · Critical Realism in Sociology · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism

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