This study analyzez the representation of modern capitalism in Tere Liye’s novel Negeri Para Bedebah (The Land of the Blessed) through the theoretical framework of Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello’s The New Spirit of Capitalism. The background of this study focuses on the evolution of adaptive capitalism. The economic system absorbs social criticism, including inequality, poverty, exploitation and the breakdown of social solidarity. Artistic criticism addresses autonomy, freedom, authenticity, and the rejection of bourgeois life. The research aims to describe the forms of criticism within the novel’s narrative. It also reflects the pplitical economic pathologies of a country, such as corruption, collusion, and nepotism. The research method is qualitative, using a content analysis design with a sociology of literature approach. Data were collected from word, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in the novel through reading and note taking techniques. Data reduction, presentation, and verification were performed. The results show that the character of Thom is a “Project Man” in Projective City,” The findings also reveal that the “new spirit” of capitalism is characterized by values of creativity, mobility, and network orientation, functioning as a cunning legitimation mechanism where demands for justice and autonomy are integrated into exploitative market logic. In this novel, this is clearly depicted throught systemic practices of corruption, collusion, and nepotism, such as global financial manipulation, hidden transactions, exploitation by business elites, and social and economic injustices. The novel also uncovers internal contradictions in capitalism, where adaptation actually triggers the destruction of solidarity and the illusion of freedom, thereby exacerbating political economic pathologies in a country.
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