Techno-feudalism or Platform Capitalism? Conceptualising the Digital Society

Written by

Jeremy Gilbert

Analyses various recent ideas that posit that we have seen the end of capitalism, and that it has been replaced by something worse. Looks at Vectoralism from McKenzie Wark, technofeudalism from Yanis Varoufakis, and ideas from Jodi Dean.

In Gilbert's opinion this is still capitalism, and rather than us being in a new mode of production, we are rather in a new 'regime of accumulation' - that of Platform Capitalism.

All good. But it all still strikes me as internal nitpicking. Whether it's a new accumulation regime or a new mode of production, does it actually help us do anything about it?

I imagine the argument would be: yes, you need to understand precisely what it is in order to counter it.

Hmm. Maybe.