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Journal of Psychosocial Studies • vol XX • no XX • 1–13 • © Policy Press 2023
Online ISSN 1478-6737 • https://doi.org/10.1332/14786737Y2023D000000009
Accepted for publication 22 November 2023 • First published online 11 December 2023
research article
To sit quietly by oneself: on neoliberal capitalism’s
‘unprecedented inner loneliness’
Nathan Gerard , nathan.gerard@csulb.edu
California State University, USA
Building upon Max Weber’s insightful critique of the capitalist spirit as causing ‘unprecedented
inner loneliness’, this article traces the trajectory of a fraught subjectivity over the course of a
socioeconomic order from the Protestant Reformation to the present. Beginning with the premise
that this socioeconomic order has a long history of both inviting and foreclosing upon the capacity
to have an inner life, the general argument is pursued that grappling with one’s separateness,
as well as the separateness of the object, gives rise to an inevitable sense of loneliness. This
psychoanalytically informed sense of loneliness is juxtaposed with the gnawing loneliness that
seems to haunt neoliberal subjectivity, revealing how the former might provide an imperfect but
still viable antidote to our increasing inability to sit quietly by ourselves. Particular focus is given
to re-evaluating Winnicott’s notion of the capacity to be alone in light of cultivating a separate
self. The article concludes with some tentative thoughts on what suffering a separate self might
entail, including suffering one’s inevitable loneliness.
Key words Winnicott • loneliness • neoliberalism • critical theory • subjectivity
To cite this article: Gerard, N. (2023) To sit quietly by oneself: on neoliberal capitalism’s
‘unprecedented inner loneliness’, Journal of Psychosocial Studies, XX(XX): 1–13,
DOI: 10.1332/14786737Y2023D000000009
Introduction
‘All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room by
himself’, laments Pascal in the 17th century, likely while sitting quietly in a room
by himself.Today, in a bizarre twist of history, all we ever seem to do is sit quietly in
rooms by ourselves – ‘plugged in’, of course – yet deeply alone. Such is the paradox
of our hyper-connected digital world where the intensity of our virtual connections
is often a measure of the depth of our loneliness; and where being and relating with
others ‘unplugged’, as it were, feels increasingly not just strange but terrifying.
In this article, I seek to trace the trajectory of this fraught subjectivity from Pascal
to the present, which is to say over the course of a socioeconomic order we now refer
to as neoliberal capitalism. My intent, however, is less to cast blame on this order and
more to elucidate what I take to be its role in a paradoxical shaping of self. For at
best, even Marx himself celebrates those aspects of capitalism conducive to cultivating
an inner life. The merchant, having broken free from the feudal lord, could discover
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