The Marxist Case for the Technofeudal Hypothesis

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The Marxist Case for the Technofeudal Hypothesis<br>ByYanis Varoufakis<br>Yanis Varoufakis has called Big Tech’s overweening power to shape the modern economy “technofeudalism.” Writing for Jacobin, he argues that this isn’t a moral critique but one based in the dynamic of capital accumulation today.

Some critics of Yanis Varoufakis’s idea of overbearing “technofeudal” control argue that it idealizes past forms of capitalism. He argues that this criticism is misplaced. (Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images)<br>Get four print issues and full access to our archive for just $20

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When my book Technofeudalism was published in 2023, I had not imagined that the likes of Steve Bannon would embrace it. I had, however, fully anticipated a barrage of criticism from Marxist thinkers, especially in response to the book’s provocative subtitle (What Killed Capitalism). It is now incumbent on me to present the Marxist case for the technofeudal hypothesis, which, though written for a broader audience, was Marxist in its conception.<br>Karl Marx’s own method sought to bypass moralistic censure of capitalism’s penchant for injustice, monopoly, and sleaze. Instead he studied capitalism in its purest form: as an anarchic market system driven by an alien force — capital — seeking its own proliferation, a task necessitating the commodification of everything and a vicious class struggle over surplus value. Any analysis that claims to continue Marx’s work must do likewise.<br>Today, I contend, a mutation of capital has gained inordinate traction. I call it cloud capital: a network of remarkable machines that produce no commodities but generate enormous rent-extracting powers by interfacing directly with us, outside anything that can usefully be called a market. Studying this novel form of capital should be every Marxist’s responsibility.

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Remove IconESCSmall<br>When my book Technofeudalism was published in 2023, I had not imagined that the likes of Steve Bannon would embrace it. I had, however, fully anticipated a barrage of criticism from Marxist thinkers, especially in response to the book’s provocative subtitle (What Killed Capitalism). It is now incumbent on me to present the Marxist case for the technofeudal hypothesis, which, though written for a broader audience, was Marxist in its...

Medium<br>When my book Technofeudalism was published in 2023, I had not imagined that the likes of Steve Bannon would embrace it. I had, however, fully anticipated a barrage of criticism from Marxist thinkers, especially in response to the book’s provocative subtitle (What Killed Capitalism). It is now incumbent on me...

Large<br>When my book Technofeudalism was published in 2023, I had not imagined that the likes of Steve Bannon would embrace it. I had, however, fully anticipated a barrage of criticism from Marxist thinkers, especially in response to the book’s provocative...