‘A prisoner can oppose incarceration while remaining confined’: The paradox of Gen Z, capitalism, and consumption | Fortune0

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• August 10, 2026

“A worker can oppose capitalism while still being forced to sell labor and buy necessities,” the reader wrote to me, “just as a prisoner can oppose incarceration while remaining confined.” Buying a secondhand jacket or a $5 treat—or waiting on a long line in a bout of “democratized snobbery” or “conspicuous waiting”—doesn’t abolish wages, rent,