Overview

Inequality, stagnant productivity, endemic instability... The new economy has not arrived. Algorithms are ubiquitous, but this does not mean that capitalism has become civilized. On the contrary. Instead, as a result of the digitalization of the world, a great regression has occurred. The return of monopolies, the dependence of subjects on platforms, the blurring of the distinction between the economic and the political: the mutations at work are transforming the quality of social processes and giving a new relevance to feudalism. Techno-feudalism reconfigures a history if the Silicon Valley consensus and highlights the five paradoxes that undermine it. The central thesis is then unfolded, punctuated by developments on GAFAs, global value chains or the Chinese social credit system. Large firms compete in cyberspace to gain control over data sources. Subjects are attached to the digital glebe. In the emerging economic order, capital is moving away from production to focus on predation.

Full Product Details

9781804294383

Table of Contents

Reviews

Cédric Durand's book adds to the excitement. He treats Big Tech as monopoly capitalists whose digital platforms (e.g. Facebook, Amazon) function like utilities (e.g. electricity providers, water and sewage corpoations, railway networks or phone companies), except that Big Tech use the cloud to harvest our data so as to boost their monopoly power over us. -- Yanis Varoufakis The technofeudalist model involves establishing a monopoly position and using sophisticated data extraction to secure it... Durand invokes the world of Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 dystopian sci-fi film Alphaville, in which a dictatorial sentient computer rules society down to the most personal decisions. -- Malcolm Harris * New York Magazine * Durand has provided a very insightful view of finance-driven capitalism over the last three decades. Why was it able to prosper alongside sagging investment and plummeting productivity gains? The answer, argues Durand, lies in the tight connection between the shareholder value principle and the globalization of the real economy. -- Michel Aglietta A must-read on the ongoing debate on techno-feudalism. A great book! -- Thomas Piketty The publication of this book by the French economist Cédric Durand represents the most sustained attempt so far at a serious consideration of the economic logics involved. -- Evgeny Morozov * New Left Review * If you want to understand how platform capitalism is turning into a predatory form of techno-feudalism and how the digital economy is radically transforming politics, society, and our everyday lives, read this book. An essential and fascinating analysis of the ideology and political economy of the digital age. -- Matthias Schmelzer, co-author of <i>The Future Is Degrowth</i>

"The technofeudalist model involves establishing a monopoly position and using sophisticated data extraction to secure it... Durand invokes the world of Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 dystopian sci-fi film Alphaville, in which a dictatorial sentient computer rules society down to the most personal decisions. -- Malcolm Harris * New York Magazine * Cédric Durand is among the most promising of young French university economists today. We awaited the publication of his new book with bated breath. It was worth the wait. Fictitious Capital is an important intervention which tries to make sense of the excesses of capitalism over the last forty years and of the development of finance. -- Jacques Sapir (praise for <i>Fictitious Capital</i>) Durand has provided a very insightful view of finance-driven capitalism over the last three decades. Why was it able to prosper alongside sagging investment and plummeting productivity gains? The answer, argues Durand, lies in the tight connection between the shareholder value principle and the globalization of the real economy. -- Michel Aglietta Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating Our Future by Cédric Durand is a fascinating and extremely informative exploration of the destructive role of finance in our contemporary political economy. Filled with brilliant insights and an impressive historical and theoretical reach, Durand explains and utilizes Marx's concept of ""fictitious capital"" to illuminate the inner workings of contemporary global capitalism and to pierce the murky veil that mainstream economics and neo-liberal thought has long used to hide and distort the powerful role of finance. Students trying to understand the precarious political and economic position in which we find ourselves, as well as the theoretical foundations for understanding this, will learn much from this well-written, data rich, and theoretically clear exposition. If you read this terrific book, you will come away well-armed for the struggle ahead. -- Gerald Epstein (praise for <i>Fictitious Capital</i>) Fictitious Capital deserves to become an essential text especially for those trying to find a pathway through the burgeoning jungle of financialization literature. It skilfully brings together numerous discussions while also offering a complementary contribution, urging us not to be blinded by financial sectors completely but to re-shift our gaze to internationalized production and corporate control to understand dynamics outside the strict financial sphere that are too often being brushed aside. -- Tobias J. Klinge, <i>Competition and Change</i> (praise for <i>Fictitious Capital</i>)"

"Praise for Fictitious Capital: Cédric Durand is among the most promising of young French university economists today. We awaited the publication of his new book with bated breath. It was worth the wait. Fictitious Capital is an important intervention which tries to make sense of the excesses of capitalism over the last forty years and of the development of finance. -- Jacques Sapir Praise for Fictitious Capital: Durand has provided a very insightful view of finance-driven capitalism over the last three decades. Why was it able to prosper alongside sagging investment and plummeting productivity gains? The answer, argues Durand, lies in the tight connection between the shareholder value principle and the globalization of the real economy. -- Michel Aglietta Praise for Fictitious Capital: Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating Our Future by Cédric Durand is a fascinating and extremely informative exploration of the destructive role of finance in our contemporary political economy. Filled with brilliant insights and an impressive historical and theoretical reach, Durand explains and utilizes Marx's concept of ""fictitious capital"" to illuminate the inner workings of contemporary global capitalism and to pierce the murky veil that mainstream economics and neo-liberal thought has long used to hide and distort the powerful role of finance. Students trying to understand the precarious political and economic position in which we find ourselves, as well as the theoretical foundations for understanding this, will learn much from this well-written, data rich, and theoretically clear exposition. If you read this terrific book, you will come away well-armed for the struggle ahead. -- Gerald Epstein Praise for Fictitious Capital: Fictitious Capital deserves to become an essential text especially for those trying to find a pathway through the burgeoning jungle of financialization literature. It skilfully brings together numerous discussions while also offering a complementary contribution, urging us not to be blinded by financial sectors completely but to re-shift our gaze to internationalized production and corporate control to understand dynamics outside the strict financial sphere that are too often being brushed aside. -- Tobias J. Klinge * Competition and Change *"

Praise for Fictitious Capital: Cedric Durand is among the most promising of young French university economists today. We awaited the publication of his new book with bated breath. It was worth the wait. Fictitious Capital is an important intervention which tries to make sense of the excesses of capitalism over the last forty years and of the development of finance. -- Jacques Sapir Praise for Fictitious Capital: Durand has provided a very insightful view of finance-driven capitalism over the last three decades. Why was it able to prosper alongside sagging investment and plummeting productivity gains? The answer, argues Durand, lies in the tight connection between the shareholder value principle and the globalization of the real economy. -- Michel Aglietta Praise for Fictitious Capital: Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating Our Future by Cedric Durand is a fascinating and extremely informative exploration of the destructive role of finance in our contemporary political economy. Filled with brilliant insights and an impressive historical and theoretical reach, Durand explains and utilizes Marx's concept of fictitious capital to illuminate the inner workings of contemporary global capitalism and to pierce the murky veil that mainstream economics and neo-liberal thought has long used to hide and distort the powerful role of finance. Students trying to understand the precarious political and economic position in which we find ourselves, as well as the theoretical foundations for understanding this, will learn much from this well-written, data rich, and theoretically clear exposition. If you read this terrific book, you will come away well-armed for the struggle ahead. -- Gerald Epstein Praise for Fictitious Capital: Fictitious Capital deserves to become an essential text especially for those trying to find a pathway through the burgeoning jungle of financialization literature. It skilfully brings together numerous discussions while also offering a complementary contribution, urging us not to be blinded by financial sectors completely but to re-shift our gaze to internationalized production and corporate control to understand dynamics outside the strict financial sphere that are too often being brushed aside. -- Tobias J. Klinge * Competition and Change *

Author Information

Cédric Durand is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Geneva and a member of the Centre d'économie Paris Nord. He is the author of Fictitious Capital. How Finance Appropriates Our Future. He is a regular contributor to the online journal Contretemps and to Sidecar, the blog of the New Left Review.

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