How gap between capitalist reality and individual and social desires of people triggers midlife crises

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak 

Midlife crisis can manifest itself in different forms. It can take be biological, social, emotional, and financial turmoil. Historically, in collectivist societies across the globe, these crises remained largely invisible because success, failure, happiness, sorrow, scarcity, and abundance were shared experiences within the community. The impact of an individual's midlife crisis was minimal, as personal struggles were absorbed into the collective support system.

However, as individualistic culture grows within the productivist framework of capitalist conditions where the turmoil of midlife crises is accelerating on a massive scale. In this system, success and happiness are increasingly measured by personal access to power, wealth, and market influence. Individual actions are driven by the pursuit of utility, pleasure, and satisfaction, promoting a highly competitive, "dog-eat-dog" environment where material success dictates social standing. The brand of one’s clothing, the model of their car, the type of mobile phone they own, and the size of their house have become defining factors of personal worth in a desire-driven capitalist society.

This shift toward individualization in success, failure, ownership, and access has eroded the spirit of collective well-being. The traditional support structures that once buffered individuals from the full impact of personal crises have weakened, leading to heightened stress and isolation under capitalism. In a capitalist society that prioritizes individual achievement over communal welfare, the collectivist social spirit of human beings is steadily diminishing.

The majority of people struggle to access goods and services that align with their desires shaped by capitalism and its market-driven culture. This failure often leads to disillusionment, as individuals internalize their inability to achieve these aspirations as personal shortcomings. However, these struggles are not merely the result of individual failures but rather systemic consequences of capitalism, which undermines idealist values in favour of an individualist, utilitarian culture—one that frequently triggers midlife crises.

Work-life imbalance further exacerbates this issue. People are working relentlessly to satisfy socially constructed yet ultimately meaningless desires within capitalism, leading to burnout, mental health struggles, and emotional crises in midlife. According to recently released data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), 89 million antidepressant pills were prescribed in England, while 2.9 million central nervous system (CNS) stimulants and ADHD medications were given to 280,000 identified patients. These prescriptions are disproportionately higher in deprived working-class areas, highlighting the direct link between economic inequality, lack of access to opportunities, and worsening mental health conditions—often mislabelled as midlife crises.

The gap between capitalist reality and the individual and social desires of people is another significant trigger for midlife crises. This period is often marked by self-doubt, questioning of one’s abilities, and deep self-reflection—leading to emotional turmoil, especially when individuals experience material deprivation in terms of access to wealth, market opportunities, power, and social status. These factors, often framed as the "hierarchy of needs" for self-actualization in a capitalist society, become difficult to attain for many.

Unemployment, social insecurity, financial instability, relationship struggles, self-worth concerns, social status anxiety, and the pressures of hollow competition contribute to midlife crises among individuals, spanning from their 20s to their 50s—ironically, the most creatively productive phase of life. As a result, midlife crises frequently lead to mental health issues, pushing people to reevaluate their purpose, mission, vision, and values. In this pursuit of elusive happiness, individuals often find themselves reshaping their goals to align with the demands and expectations of capitalism, further entrenching the cycle of dissatisfaction and emotional distress and lingering of midlife crisis.

Blaming individuals for their midlife crisis is an easy but misguided approach, as it only reinforces the crisis in different forms. In reality, midlife crises are intensified under capitalism, which accelerates them to such an extent that individuals gradually lose their collective values as social beings. Instead, they are driven to prioritize economic self-satisfaction through relentless commodity consumption—aligning perfectly with the demands of capitalism.

The capitalist system perpetuates and deepens this growing "pandemic" of midlife crises to sustain and expand itself, often at the expense of both individuals and society. In such an environment, midlife crises emerge even earlier, affecting people as young as their 20s and persisting through their 50s. It is crucial to recognize that midlife crises are not self-created by those who experience them but are, in fact, a systemic consequence of capitalism's influence on human lives.