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I’m a former academic (in fact, I’m still an occasional academic), and I remain attached to the ideal of academia, even if the reality of higher education in Britain today is disillusioning. Academia was once a refuge from the impoverished values of our contemporary corporate and hyper-capitalist culture; these days it has become infected with them, as money, metrics and the mindlessness of efficiency and outputs has taken over. Our culture is saturated with cheap, valueless rubbish, all of which sustains the senseless obsession with profit, personal enrichment and productivity. The production, selling and buying of this rubbish is celebrated as if nothing else (morals, global poverty and inequality, the environment, etc.) matters. We really are in trouble when academia gets sucked into this cultural, social and economic black hole.

The previous paragraph is opinionated (some might even say it is a rant). A Plethora of Plastic stemmed from my wish to have a place where I could write such things, where I could (so to speak) borderline ‘rant’. And, since modern capitalist culture is both hideously grim and darkly hilarious, a place where I could mock it without worrying too much about not being scholarly enough. (I never entirely cease worrying about this, but that’s what 25 years in academia does to you.)

A Plethora of Plastic reflects, therefore, my (often amused) despair at capitalism and consumerism, and possibly also my own compromised relationship with them. I am not unaware that I may often contradict myself, that I can be inconsistent, even that I may be considered hypocritical at timesits the nature of being human. I realize that there may not be a huge difference between devoting a morning to writing an anti-capitalist blog article and spending it shopping at Primark (both may involve the production and consumption of rubbish), although I need to believe there is.

As the Situationist slogan goes, work is indeed the blackmail of survival. In order to eat we sell our precious time, freedom, energies and, even, our souls to the production of an ever more extensive plethora of plastic. I too have to eat. I survive these days (usually by the skin of my teeth) on freelancing as a writer and editor. For the most part I try to do things that I enjoy and believe in, but I’m also prepared to sell my soul from time to time. So (in a shameless marketing bid) if you are looking to engage any writing or editorial services, please feel free to contact me using the details below. If you consider yourself to be a capitalist or a champion of consumerism, don’t let that put you off: I like most people, capitalists and anti-capitalists alike, and I’m an equal opportunities employee.

You can contact me either via my website (http://stephenpigney.com/) where you can find further information about me and my freelance services, as well as other examples of my writing, or directly via email: stephenpigney [at] gmail [dot] com.

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