In this article, I examine an underexplored area of Nietzsche’s thought, namely his comments regarding several integral aspects of capitalism. In particular, I argue against the interpretation of Nietzsche as a bourgeois ideologue, by showing how his claims about money-making, money itself, work, workers, pleasure, and the marketplace amount to a critical view of capitalism’s essential features. In addition, I distinguish his critical standpoint from more familiar critiques of capitalism such as that of Marx, using Nietzsche’s own criticisms of socialism (...) to propose that, in contrast, Nietzsche’s perspective vis-à-vis capitalism is what I call aristocratic. By “aristocratic” I refer to the attitude or “pathos of distance” Nietzsche possesses in relation to such things as money-making, work, and the marketplace, rather than some literal aristocracy that he supposedly defends. Finally, I offer a brief discussion of how Nietzsche’s aristocratic perspective can assist the Marxist critique today by rejecting one of capitalism’s strongest ideological supports, that is, the myth of capitalists as great individuals. (shrink)