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.