The “Temporal Rift” and the Temporalities of the Capitalist Social Metabolism

Abstract

This paper advances a reading of the social metabolism as a dynamic orchestration of heterogeneous rhythms, encompassing those intrinsic to human bodies and other natural processes, and those of relations mediating both. Contrary to pre-capitalist societies, as the collective mediation of the social metabolism adopts a capitalist form, it becomes autonomised from its conditions of existence, and a “temporal rift” emerges, with two distinct dimensions: the rhythmic conditions of regeneration of human bodies and natural processes, as well as the terms of occurrence of non-subsumed practices, become subordinated to capital's reproductive needs, thus compromising the reproduction of all Earthly life.