An interview with Wolfgang Streeck by Gulan, July 25, 2026

Gulan: In “How Will Capitalism End?”, you contend that rather than being replaced by a logical alternative, modern capitalism is about to enter a protracted era of systemic breakdown. If capitalism is truly disintegrating into what you refer to as a „post-social order,“ what institutional innovations or political creativity may still stop this trend toward inequality and fragmentation, and where, if anywhere, do you find historical antecedents for such changes?

Professor Dr. Wolfgang Streeck: Let me elaborate a bit on what I wrote a number of years ago. Modern capitalism is not just a way of extracting surplus value; it is a way of life, a culture, perhaps even a religion. Ending it requires a comprehensive transformation of an established civilization, from the cradle to the grave, from production to consumption to reproduction. Such a transition takes time. It needs much more than someone in power, an individual or a party, to declare capitalism out and socialism in, unlike what Lenin believed or pretended to believe he was doing – and also unlike Yeltsin, who could decree at a press conference that from tomorrow on capitalism would replace communism…

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