What is New in New Capitalism?
https://doi.org/10.22394/2074-0492-2021-1-39-63
EDN: BKNNPL
Abstract
As the new types of economy (digital, gigonomics, sharing economy, etc.) are more and more frequently discussed in the scientific literature, while novel concepts of new capitalism regularly emerge, the author of the article investigates the origins of these constant changes and turns to contemporary social theory for answers. As a starting point, the author takes the books of two Marxists, Douglas Kellner and David Harvey; both were published in 1989, in the symbolic year of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. To construct a narrative, the author employs the idea of the periodization of the American culture of the long nineties (1989-2001) by the American cultural critic Philip Wagner and the concept of external and internal globalization by the social theorist Robert Hassan, who in his turn grounds his reflections on the idea of flexible accumulation by Harvey. Using the example of the film "Fight Club", the author shows how the colonization of the internal human experience by capital took place after 1989. Thus, in the 1990s, capital, by depriving people of sleep, began to profit not only from the economy built on knowledge, but also from emotions, as reflected in social theory at the turn of the millennium. Further, briefly describing several recent concepts of capitalism (data capitalism, computational capitalism, semiocapitalism, biocognitive capitalism), the author notes that the creators of the theories, focusing on the digital economy, do not take into account the factor of external globalization, and most importantly forget about financial capitalism, on which, ultimately, the economy depends. The article concludes that the dynamics of capital development were predicted by David Harvey back in 1989, and that his concept still has a high heuristic potential.
About the Author
Alexander PavlovRussian Federation
DSc in Philosophy, Professor, School of Philosophy
and Cultural Studies
References
1. — Afanasov N.B. (2019) In Search of Lost Modernity. Russian Sociological Review, 1
2. (18): 256-265. — in Russ.
3. — Barile N. (2015) Branding the Self in the Age of Emotional Capitalism. The
4. Exploitation of Prosumers, from the Rhetoric of “Double Bind” to the Hegemony
5. of Confession. Logos, 3(105): 138-161. — in Russ.
6. — Brenner R. (2014) The Economics of Global Turbulence. The Advanced Capitalist
7. Economies from Long Boom to Long Downturn, 1945-2005, Moscow: HSE Publishing
8. House. — in Russ.
9. — Žižek S. (2003) Revolution at the Gates: Žižek on Lenin, the 1917 Writings, Moscow:
10. Ad Marginem. — in Russ.
11. — Castells M. (2000) The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Moscow: HSE
12. Publishing House. — in Russ.
13. — Mazzucato M. (2021) The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global
14. Economy. Moscow: HSE Publishing House. — in Russ.
15. — Morozov A.V. (2019) Navigating Accelerationism: from non-Capitalism to
16. Postcapitalism via Platforms. Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies, 2: 226-
17. — in Russ.
18. — Palahniuk Ch. (2005) Fight Club. Choke. Lullaby, Moscow: AST. — in Russ.
19. — Ritzer G. (2002) Sociological Theory, Saint Petersburg: Piter. — in Russ.
20. — Ritzer G. (2011) The McDonaldization of Society 5, Moscow: Praxis. — in Russ.
21. — Safronov E. (2020) Jodi Dean’s Concept of Communicative Capitalism. Znanie.
22. Ponimanie. Umenie, 1: 236-247. — in Russ.
23. — Srnicek N. (2019) Platform Capitalism, Moscow: HSE Publishing House. — in Russ.
24. — Harvey D. (2007) A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Moscow: Pokolenie. — in
25. Russ.
26. — Harvey D. (2021) The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of
27. Cultural Change, Moscow: HSE Publishing House. — in Russ.
28. Beller J. (2017) The Message is Murder: Substrates of Computational Capital, London: Pluto
29. Press.
30. Berardi F. (2009) Precarious Rhapsody. Semiocapitalism and the pathologies of the post-alpha
31. generation, London: Minor Compositions.
32. Bryan D., Rafferty M. (2006) Capitalism with Derivatives: A Political Economy of Financial
33. Derivatives, Capital, and Class, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
34. Callinicos A. (1985) Postmodernism, Post-Structuralism, Post-Marxism. Theory,
35. Culture and Society, 3 (2): 85-107.
36. Crary J. (2013) 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, London; New York: Verso.
37. Diken B., Laustsen C.B. (2002) Enjoy Your Fight! — “Fight Club” as a Symptom of the
38. Network Society. Cultural Value, 6 (4): 349-367.
39. Dyer-Witheford N. (1999) Cyber-Marx. Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High Technology
40. Capitalism, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
41. Dyer-Witheford N. (2001) Nintendo Capitalism: Enclosures and Insurgencies, Virtual
42. and Terrestrial. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 4 (2): 965-997.
43. Dyer-Witheford N., De Peuter G. (2009) Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video
44. Games, Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press.
45. Fuchs C. (2020) Communication and Capitalism: A Critical Theory, London: University of
46. Westminster Press.
47. Grizioti G. (2019) Neurocapitalism, London: Minor Compositions.
48. Harvey D. (2000) Spaces of Hope, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
49. Harvey D. (2003) The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
50. Hassan R. (2020) The Condition of Digitality: A Post-Modern Marxism for the Practice of
51. Digital Life, London: University of Westminster Press.
52. Illouz E. (2007) Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity
53. Press.
54. Illouz E. (1997) Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of
55. Capitalism, Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press.
56. Illouz E. (2019) The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations, Oxford: Oxford
57. University Press.
58. Kellner D.M. (1989) Critical Theory, Marxism and Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
59. Kellner D. (ed.) (1989a) Postmodernism/Jameson/Critique, Washington, DC:
60. Maisonneuve Press, 1989.
61. Lash S., Urry J. (1987) The End of Organized Capitalism, Cambridge; Oxford: Polity Press
62. and Blackwell.
63. Lee B., LiPuma E. (2004) Financial Derivatives and the Culture of Risk, Durham: Duke
64. University Press.
65. McGuigan J. (2009) Cool Capitalism, London; New York: Pluto Press.
66. Rifkin J. (2000) The Age of Access: How the Shift from Ownership to Access is Transforming
67. Capitalism, London: Penguin.
68. Ritzer G. (2010) Sociological Theory, New York: McGraw-Hill.
69. Sinn H.-W. (2010) Casino Capitalism: How the Financial Crisis Came About and What Needs
70. to be Done Now, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
71. Strange S. (1986) Casino Capitalism, New York: Basil Blackwell.
72. Tally Jr. R.T. (2013) Utopia in the Age of Globalization. Space, Representation, and the World
73. System, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.
74. Terranova T. (2019) Foreword. Grizioti G. Neurocapitalism, London: Minor Compositions.
75. Wegner P.E. (2009) Life between Two Deaths, 1989–2001: U. S. Culture in the Long Nineties,
76. Durham: Duke University Press.
77. West S.M. (2017) Data Capitalism: Redefining the Logics of Surveillance and Privacy.
78. Business and Society, 58 (1): 20-41.
79. Zuboff S. (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, New York: Public Affairs.
Review
For citations:
Pavlov A. What is New in New Capitalism? Sociology of Power. 2021;33(1):39-63. https://doi.org/10.22394/2074-0492-2021-1-39-63. EDN: BKNNPL