Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism (Book)

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism (Umutsuzluktan Ölmek ve Kapitalizmin Geleceği) is a sociological work written by Anne Case and Angus Deaton and translated into Turkish by Bilge Özensoy. Published in February 2024 as part of Dergâh Publications' Sociology series, the work analyzes the destructive effects of the neoliberal transformation of American capitalism on individuals.

Subject

The book combines personal stories with statistical data on the collapse of the "American Dream" to examine the increasing "deaths of despair" (suicide, deaths from drugs and alcohol) among the middle-aged white American population. The authors provide a systematic evaluation of how economic inequality, the retraction of labor rights, and neoliberal policies have isolated vulnerable segments of society.

Themes

• Deaths of Despair: The social and economic origins of the rising causes of death in the middle-aged population are explained.
• The Inclusivity of Neoliberalism: The way that the promises of economic growth lead to individual collapse in conjunction with neoliberal policies is addressed.
• The Modern Addiction Crisis: The view of opioid, alcohol, and drug addiction as consequences of the capitalist system is explained.
• The Future of Capitalism: The threat that this structural decay poses to the sustainability of capitalism is evaluated.

Narration and Style

Case and Deaton use an analytical narrative supported by comprehensive statistical charts. While presenting a perspective that questions the system with references to social science literature, they also add an emotional dimension to the text with case examples. The translation preserves the original text's emphasis and renders its language into a fluid Turkish.