(The Quint brings to you 'Khairiyat', a column by award-winning author Tabish Khair, where he talks about the politics of race, the experiences of diasporas, Europe-India dynamics and the interplay of culture, history and society, among other issues of global significance.)
Despite the many definitions that exist, each more convoluted than the other, ‘capitalism’ is a system in which the medium is privileged above the substance of the mediation. Economically, this happens when money, which is required as a medium to transact diverse products, goods and services, ends up reproducing itself, with growing independence from the goods and services between which it is supposed to mediate. This is when money turns into capital.
The end purpose of all capital is self-perpetuation, and, in that sense, it is correct to compare it to a virus. Capitalism is at its purest when money – as capital – can reproduce and increase itself without having to be extracted from human labour and production.
This is when money – once a medium – takes over, and the goods, services, etc, that it is supposed to mediate between, become less important and even less real. Note that this does not mean that they cease to exist; it just means that they become secondary, less real.